Problems with mitigation translocation of herpetofauna.

Mitigation translocation of nuisance animals is a commonly used management practice aimed at resolution of human-animal conflict by removal and release of an individual animal. Long considered a reasonable undertaking, especially by the general public, it is now known that translocated subjects are negatively affected by the practice. Mitigation translocation is typically undertaken with individual adult organisms and has a much lower success rate than the more widely practiced conservation translocation of threatened and endangered species. Nonetheless, the public and many conservation practitioners believe that because population-level conservation translocations have been successful that mitigation translocation can be satisfactorily applied to a wide variety of human-wildlife conflict situations. We reviewed mitigation translocations of reptiles, including our own work with 3 long-lived species (Gila monsters [Heloderma suspectum], Sonoran desert tortoises [Gopherus morafkai], and western diamond-backed rattlesnakes [Crotalus atrox]). Overall, mitigation translocation had a low success rate when judged either by effects on individuals (in all studies reviewed they exhibited increased movement or increased mortality) or by the success of the resolution of the human-animal conflict (translocated individuals often returned to the capture site). Careful planning and identification of knowledge gaps are critical to increasing success rates in mitigation translocations in the face of increasing pressure to find solutions for species threatened by diverse anthropogenic factors, including climate change and exurban and energy development.

The relationship of noncredible performance to continuous performance test scores in adults referred for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder evaluation.

Diagnosis of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in adults is complicated by the fact that neither symptom report nor neuropsychological findings are specific to the diagnosis. Few studies have addressed the possibility that noncredible performance influences the effectiveness of neuropsychological test findings in ADHD assessment. The present study utilized archival data on Conner's Continuous Performance Test (CPT) scores from young adults referred for concerns about ADHD at two different universities, who were divided into three groups: (1) those who failed a measure of noncredible performance (the Word Memory Test; WMT), (2) those who met diagnostic criteria for ADHD, and (3) controls with psychological symptoms who did not meet the diagnostic criteria for ADHD. More individuals who failed the WMT were also clinically impaired on the CPT than individuals diagnosed with ADHD and individuals with psychological symptoms, who could not be distinguished from each other. Results demonstrate the importance of assessing for noncredible performance before interpreting neuropsychological test scores in ADHD assessment. Results also emphasize the importance of considering other disorders that can impact CPT performance prior to interpreting CPT impairment as indicative of ADHD.

Conservation phylogenetics of helodermatid lizards using multiple molecular markers and a supertree approach.

We analyzed both mitochondrial (mt-) and nuclear (n) DNAs in a conservation phylogenetic framework to examine deep and shallow histories of the Beaded Lizard (Heloderma horridum) and Gila Monster (H. suspectum) throughout their geographic ranges in North and Central America. Both mtDNA and intron markers clearly partitioned each species. One intron and mtDNA further subdivided H. horridum into its four recognized subspecies (H. n. alvarezi, charlesbogerti,exasperatum, and horridum). However, the two subspecies of H. suspectum (H. s. suspectum and H. s. cinctum) were undefined. A supertree approach sustained these relationships. Overall, the Helodermatidae is reaffirmed as an ancient and conserved group. Its most recent common ancestor (MRCA) was Lower Eocene [35.4 million years ago (mya)], with a approximately 25 my period of stasis before the MRCA of H. horridum diversified in Lower Miocene. Another approximately 5 my passed before H. h. exasperatum and H. h. horridum diverged, followed by approximately 1.5 my before H. h. alvarezi and H. h. charlesbogerti separated. Heloderma suspectum reflects an even longer period of stasis (approximately 30 my) before diversifying from its MRCA. Both H. suspectum (México) and H. h. alvarezi also revealed evidence of historic range expansion following a recent bottleneck. Our conservation phylogenetic approach emphasizes the origin and diversification of this group, yields information on the manner by which past environmental variance may have impacted its populations and, in turn, allows us to disentangle historic from contemporary impacts that might threaten its long-term persistence. The value of helodermatid conservation resides in natural services and medicinal products, particularly venom constituents, and these are only now being realized.

Symptom exaggeration by college adults in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and learning disorder assessments.

To test the hypothesis that sub-optimal effort detected by one popular symptom validity measure, the Word Memory Test (WMT), should be interpreted as symptom exaggeration, the authors examined attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and learning disorder (LD) assessment data collected from healthy adult patients over the past four years at one mid-size Southeastern college. They conducted six tests of this hypothesis, drawing upon extant research. Rates of apparent symptom exaggeration comparable to those found in medicolegal settings (e.g., personal injury cases), particularly in the context of ADHD evaluations, were found. WMT scores were positively correlated with intellectual and neurocognitive test scores, and negatively correlated with self-report symptom inventory scores. Measures of negative response bias embedded in one common self-report measure of psychopathology (the Personality Assessment Inventory) were not correlated with WMT performance. Unattended WMT administrations led to somewhat higher failure rates than were found when the examiners were present in the room during all phases of the test's administration. In light of considerable secondary gain motives in this population, the authors conclude that poor effort as evidenced by low WMT scores implies symptom exaggeration and not other factors in these assessments. The routine inclusion of empirically supported symptom validity measures in these evaluations is recommended, and future research directions are suggested.

Geographic variation in sexual selection among populations of an iguanid lizard, Sauromalus obesus (=ater).

Geographic variation in selection pressures may result in population divergence and speciation, especially if sexual selection varies among populations. Yet spatial variation in targets and intensity of sexual selection is well studied in only a few species. Even more rare are simultaneous studies of multiple populations combining observations from natural settings with controlled behavioral experiments. We investigated how sexual selection varies among populations of the chuckwalla, Sauromalus obesus. Chuckwallas are sexually dimorphic in color, and males vary in coloration among populations. Using field observations and multiple regression techniques, we investigated how sexual selection acts on various male traits in three populations in which males differed in coloration. The influence of sexual selection on male coloration was then investigated in more detail using controlled experiments. Results from field observations indicate that phenotypic selection was acting on territory quality in all three populations. In two populations, selection was also acting either directly or indirectly on male coloration. Male color likely functions as an indicator of food resources to females because male color is based partly on carotenoid pigments. In controlled experiments, significantly more females from these two populations chose males with brighter colors over dull males, a result consistent with studies on carotenoid pigments in other taxa. In a third population, no evidence of sexual selection on male coloration was found in either the field study or controlled experiment. Lack of female preferences for male color in this population, in which chuckwalla densities are low and home ranges are large, may result from searching costs to females.

Molecular systematics, hybridization, and phylogeography of the Bufo americanus complex in Eastern North America.

We reconstruct phylogenetic relationships among a well-studied group of toads and find relationships that differ greatly from the current taxonomic understanding. We use mitochondrial sequences encoding ND1, tRNA(Leu(UUR)), and part of 16S to infer relationships among members of the Bufo americanus complex. Focusing on the four taxa that historically have been most problematic due to morphological similarity and hybridization in sympatry, we sample 150 individuals from multiple populations across each species' geographic range. Our evidence conflicts with previous taxonomic hypotheses that were based on ability to hybridize, geographic distribution, and call variation. First, sequences from B. fowleri do not comprise the sister clade to sequences of B. woodhousii; therefore the previous classifications of B. fowleri as sister species to, or eastern subspecies of, B. woodhousii are both called into question. Second, sequences from B. americanus are more closely related to those of B. woodhousii than to those of B. terrestris, indicating that similar advertisement call characteristics evolved independently. Third, sequences of B. fowleri are paraphyletic, with sequences of B. terrestris embedded within. Lastly, sequences from B. fowleri cluster into three distinct mitochondrial clades, with some divergences corresponding to greater than 2mya. These clades are somewhat geographically structured, suggesting divergence in allopatry during the Pleistocene. These mitochondrial divergences are not accompanied by known phenotypic differences, however, suggesting either evolutionary stasis in morphology and behavior, cryptic phenotypic evolution, or that hybridization in secondary contact has homogenized phenotypic differences that may have arisen in allopatry.