Mammalogy Techniques Lab Manual

Get outside! A hands-on lab manual for instructors incorporating fieldwork into their courses on mammalogy. Mammals inhabit nearly every continent and every sea. They have adapted to life underground, in the frozen Arctic, the hottest deserts, and every habitat in-between. In Mammalogy Techniques Lab Manual—the only field manual devoted to training the next generation of mammalogists—biologist and educator James M. Ryan details the modern research techniques today’s professionals use to study mammals wherever they are found. Ideal for any mammalogy or wildlife biology course, this clear and practical guide aids students by getting them outside to study mammals in their natural environments. Twenty comprehensive chapters cover skull and tooth identification, radio and satellite GPS tracking, phylogeny construction, mark and recapture techniques, camera trapping, museum specimen preparation, optimal foraging, and DNA extraction, among other topics. Each chapter includes several exercises with step-by-step instructions for students to collect and analyze their own data, along with background information, downloadable sample data sets (to use when it is not practical to be out in the field), and detailed descriptions of useful open-source software tools. This pragmatic resource provides students with real-world experience practicing the complex techniques used by modern wildlife biologists. With more than 60 applied exercises to choose from in this unique manual, students will quickly acquire the scientific skills essential for a career working with mammals.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments Chapter 1. Introduction Background How to Use This Manual R Statistical Environment Chapter 2. Mammal Skulls Background Bones and Features of the Skull Variation in Mammalian Skulls Zygomatic Morphology in Rodents Telescoping in Cetaceans Skull Measurements Exercise 1: The Nuts and Bolts Exercise 2: Dichotomous Keys of Skulls Exercise 3: Mystery Mammal Skull Appendix Chapter 3. Mammalian Teeth Background Internal Structure Kinds of Teeth Occlusal Patterns and Cusps Types of Teeth and Diet Tooth Replacement Dental Formulas Exercise 1: Dental Terminology Exercise 2: Dental Key to North American Mammals Chapter 4. Phylogeny Reconstruction Background How Do We Construct Phylogenetic Trees? Exercise 1: Manual Sequence Alignment Exercise 2: Sequence Alignment Using Computers Exercise 3: Exploring the Open Tree of Life Chapter 5. Keeping a Field Notebook Background Why Keep a Field Notebook? Elements of a Field Journal Two-Part Field Notes Grinnell Method Exercise 1: Locality Information Using Topo Maps Exercise 2: Taking Field Notes Chapter 6. Livetrapping Small Mammals Background Live Traps Exercise 1: Setting up a Livetrapping Grid Exercise 2: Checking Traps and Collecting Capture Data Handling Captured Mammals Marking Mammals Sexing and Aging Small Mammals Measuring Small Mammals Exercise 3: Data Collection and Analysis Appendix Chapter 7. Specimen Preparation Why Collect Specimens? Documenting Specimens Exercise 1: Taking Standard Measurements Recording Reproductive Data Preparing Museum Specimens Exercise 2: Preparing a Museum Study Skin Exercise 3: Preparing Skulls Exercise 4: Preparing Skeletons Chapter 8. Field Collecting and Preserving Mammalian Parasites Background Exercise 1: Making a Blood Smear Exercise 2: Collecting Ectoparasites Exercise 3: Collecting Endoparasites Exercise 4: Preliminary Ectoparasite Identification Exercise 5: Ectoparasite Population Ecology Chapter 9. Mark-Recapture Studies Background Lincoln-Petersen Method Schnabel Model Jolly-Seber Model Exercise 1: Single Mark-Recapture (Lincoln-Petersen Method) Exercise 2: The Schnabel Method Exercise 3: The Jolly-Seber Model Using Excel Appendix Chapter 10. Using Software for Mark-Recapture Data Background Capture Probability and Encounter Histories Capture Models Exercise 1: Using the Program CAPTURE Exercise 2: Tigers in India Exercise 3: Mark-Recapture Sampling Using Rcapture Appendix A Appendix B Chapter 11. Transects: Using Distance Sampling Background Indirect Data Field Procedures Indirect Transect Surveys Exercise 1: Conducting Deer Pellet Transect Surveys Exercise 2: Dung Counts Using PELLET Exercise 3: Data Analysis Using Rdistance in RStudio Chapter 12. Camera Trapping Background Camera Selection Survey Design Exercise 1: A Camera-Trap Field Study Data Analysis Exercise 2: Data Analysis from Camera-Trap Studies Exercise 3: Using camtrapR to Analyze Camera-Trap Data Chapter 13. Radio Tracking Background Types of Radio-Telemetry Studies Radio-Telemetry Equipment Locating Animals Exercise 1: Locating Animals by Homing Exercise 2: Locating Animals via Triangulation Exercise 3: Data Analysis: The Minimum Convex Polygon Exercise 4: Data Analysis Using sigloc in RStudio Exercise 5: Using adehabitatHR in RStudio Chapter 14. GPS Tracking Using GPSVisualizer and MoveBank Background Exercise 1: Tracking Grizzly Bears with GPSVisualizer Exercise 2: Exploring MoveBank Data Chapter 15. Recording and Analyzing Mammal Sounds Background Equipment for Recording Sounds Software for Analyzing Sounds Interpreting a Sonogram Exercise 1: Field Recording Exercise 2: Sound Analysis Using Audacity Exercise 3: Playback Experiments Using Alarm Calls Chapter 16. Quantifying Mammalian Behavior Background Avoiding Common Problems Exercise 1: Building an Ethogram Exercise 2: Sampling Behaviors Exercise 3: Creating a Time Budget Exercise 4: Creating a Transition Diagram Exercise 5: Creating a Dominance Hierarchy Exercise 6: Dominance Hierarchy Analysis Exercise 7: Social Network Analysis Using igraph Chapter 17. Optimal Foraging Behavior Background Foraging in Patches Exercise 1: Profitability and Prey Choice Exercise 2: Foraging in Patches Exercise 3: Foraging with Risk Appendix Chapter 18. Field Karyotyping Background What Is a Karyotype? How Are Karyotypes Produced? Exercise 1: Field Karyotyping Exercise 2: G-banding Chromosomes with Trypsin Exercise 3: Analyzing the Karyotype Manually Exercise 4: Measuring Chromosomes with ImageJ Software Appendix A Appendix B Chapter 19. Non-invasive Hair Sampling Background Hair Morphology Exercise 1: Field Methods for Collecting Hairs Exercise 2: Creating a Hair Reference Collection Exercise 3: Quantifying Hair Structure Using ImageJ Software Exercise 4: Extracting DNA from Hair Samples Instructor Resources General Field Equipment Sources Mammalian Skulls and Skeletons Biotelemetry Resources Camera Traps Sound Recording Ultrasound Recording Equipment (Bat Detectors) Glossary Bibliography Index

About the Author :
James M. Ryan is a professor of biology at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. He is the coauthor of Mammalogy and the author of Adirondack Wildlife: A Field Guide.

Review :
The content makes for a book of such a range of mammal study methods it is difficult to think all that can be in just 179 pages. —Pat Sang MRSB, The Biologist A student contemplating mammalian field research would be well-served utilizing this lab manual. —Robert E. Hoopes, Wildlife Activist [Mammalogy Techniques Lab Manual] will surely inspire a new generation of mammalogists . . . A strength of the book is that it is self-contained. Supplementary materials specific to this book, public online resources, and smart practical suggestions enable the reader to perform most of the exercises from anywhere in the world . . . [Mammalogy Techniques Lab Manual] will be a great addition for introductory courses . . . Instructors should ask their libraries to purchase some copies. This book will lead new generations of students to say "When I grow up I want to be a mammalogist!" —Andrea Ravignani, Vrije Universiteit, Journal of Mammalogy This book can be recommended to anyone working (or those who wish to work) with mammals in the field and is a must have for students of mammalogy (including researchers) as well as any biology department covering mammalogy. —Carsten Schradin, CNRS, Quarterly Review of Biology