Current taxonomy of western Eurasian trout leaves a number of questions open; it is not clear to what extent some species are distinct genetically and morphologically. The purpose of this paper was to explore phylogeography and species boundaries in freshwater and anadromous trout from the drainages of the Black and the Caspian Seas (Ponto-Caspian). We studied morphology and mitochondrial phylo...

The phylogenetic position of turtles within the vertebrate tree of life remains controversial. Conflicting conclusions from different studies are likely a consequence of systematic error in the tree construction process, rather than random error from small amounts of data. Using genomic data, we evaluate the phylogenetic position of turtles with both conventional concatenated data analysis and ...

We measured temperature variation in a free-ranging ectotherm by attaching microdataloggers to the carapaces of 34 painted turtles (Chrysemys picta) in a farm pond located in Davidson, NC. Water and mud temperatures (Tw) were simultaneously monitored. We successfully recorded external shell temperature (Ts) in 18 turtles from September 2001–April 2002 and 23 turtles from April 2002–October 2002...

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The rapid rise of Caspian Sea water level (about 2.25 meters since 1978) has caused much concern to all five surrounding countries, primarily because flooding has destroyed or damaged buildings and other engineering structures, roads, beaches and farm lands in the coastal zone. Given that climate, and more specifically climate change, is a primary factor influencing oscillations in Caspian Sea ...

Russian ( Acipenser gueldenstaedtii), Persian ( A. persicus) and Siberian ( A. baerii) sturgeons are closely related 'Ponto-Caspian' species. Investigation of their population structure is an important problem, the solution of which determines measures for conservation of these species. According to previous studies, 'baerii-like' mitotypes were found in the Caspian Sea among 35% of Russian stu...