Geographic and sexual variation in the skull of Pacific coast marten (Martes americana)

1989 ◽  
Vol 67 (6) ◽  
pp. 1386-1393 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guillermo R. Giannico ◽  
David W. Nagorsen

From multivariate analyses of 25 cranial measurements, we assessed geographic and sexual variation in three island and two mainland samples of Pacific coast marten (Marten americana) from the caurina subspecies group. Three morphological groups were evident: the first from Queen Charlotte Islands, the second from Alexander Archipelago and Alaska Panhandle, and the third from Vancouver Island and the southern British Columbia coast. We concluded that the subspecies M. a. nesophila should be restricted to the Queen Charlotte Islands; Vancouver Island and southern British Columbia coastal marten are aligned with M. a. caurina. Alaskan marten showed some affinities with the americana subspecies group. The strong differentiation of M. a. nesophila is concordant with the isolation and unique selection regime of the Queen Charlotte Islands. Sexual dimorphism was most pronounced in island samples; possible explanations for this trend are discussed.

1966 ◽  
Vol 23 (6) ◽  
pp. 805-811 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tai Soo Park

A new species Bradyidius saanichi from Saanich Inlet, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, is described and illustrated in detail. This species is closely related to B. pacificus (Brodsky, 1950) among the six previously known species in the genus, but can be readily distinguished from the latter by the strongly divergent rostral rami in addition to some other differences.


1953 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 125-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. L. Pickard ◽  
D. C. McLeod

Grand monthly means of daily observations of surface sea-water temperature and salinity from twelve light stations along the British Columbia coast during the 13 years 1935 to 1948 have been analysed. In general the temperatures reach a minimum of 45°F. ± 1° (7.2 °C. ± 0.5°) in January and February. The maximum varies from 50° to 64°F. (10° to 18 °C.) in August. The warmest waters occur in bays protected from wind action, and the coldest waters occur in regions of turbulent mixing due to wind or strong currents. The salinity along the mainland coast is a minimum in early summer, associated with the maximum run-off from melting snow. Along the west coast of Vancouver Island the minimum occurs in mid-winter, associated with maximum precipitation which is not stored as snow in this region. At the southern and northern tip of the Queen Charlotte Islands there is little or no variation of salinity because there is no land drainage of consequence in the vicinity.In passes between Georgia Strait and the sea where the waters are mixed to homogeneity by strong tidal currents the annual variation of temperature and salinity is reduced, and in some cases entirely suppressed.On the west coast of Vancouver Island it is shown that the annual cycle is affected by the dominant winds and upwelling of deep ocean waters.


1991 ◽  
Vol 48 (6) ◽  
pp. 960-967 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. R. Forbes ◽  
K. L. Denman

Concern about the potential for contamination of Pacific coast molluscan shellfish by domoic acid prompted us to review the distribution of Nitzschia pungens in coastal waters of British Columbia. From 1980 to 1988, N. pungens occurred throughout waters of the continental shelf, most frequently as a minor component of the large diatom aggregations observed off southwest Vancouver Island during July and August. The species was less common in the Strait of Georgia and north of Vancouver Island, but interannual variability in distribution and abundance was considerable. Maximum concentrations recorded were 106 cells∙L−1 in Hecate Strait in July 1983 and 5 × 105 cells∙L−1 off southwest Vancouver Island in August 1986. Discrimination of presence or absence on the basis of existing environmental variables produced mixed results, but has potential. Scanning electron microscopy showed that both N. pungens f. pungens and N. pungens f. multiseries (the latter being implicated in the contamination of shellfish in Atlantic Canada) occur in British Columbia. It remains to be shown whether N. pungens produces domoic acid in Pacific coast waters and whether the high abundances observed over the continental shelf also occur near shore.


1981 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 365-381 ◽  
Author(s):  
LONNIE W. AARSSEN

This paper provides a summary of biological data on Hypochoeris radicata L. (spotted cat’s-ear). This weed is naturalized in Canada on both the west and east coasts but is common only on Vancouver Island, the Queen Charlotte Islands, and the adjacent mainland of British Columbia. It is adapted to a wide range of habitats such as lawns, fields and along roadsides. The species is commonly mistaken for dandelion (Taraxacum officinale Weber), fall hawkbit (Leontodon autumnalis L.) or Hypochoeris glabra L. due to the close resemblance of their bright yellow flowers. This last species is the only other member of the genus occurring in Canada and it hybridizes readily in nature with H. radicata. Several herbicides can be used to control H. radicata.


1982 ◽  
Vol 60 (6) ◽  
pp. 1463-1469 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terry D. Beacham

Significant regional and annual variability in fecundity of coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) and chum salmon (O. keta) in British Columbia was detected during this investigation. A Kodiak Island (Alaska) coho salmon stock was more fecund than southern stocks in British Columbia and Washington. Fecundity ranged from 2450 to 2850 eggs per female at 53.6 cm postorbital–hypural length for Vancouver Island stocks to over 4400 eggs per female for a Kodiak Island stock at the same length. Chum stocks on Vancouver Island and the Queen Charlotte Islands generally had fecundities less than 3200 eggs per female at 58.8 cm postorbital–hypural length, whereas chum of equal lengths in mainland British Columbia stocks ranged from 3200 to 3450 eggs per female. Older chum and coho were usually more fecund than younger ones, but this difference could be accounted for by differences in mean length-at-age, fecundity being related to body size.


1997 ◽  
Vol 75 (11) ◽  
pp. 1887-1896 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra C. Lindstrom ◽  
Jeanine L. Olsen ◽  
Wytze T. Stam

We used random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers to examine the distribution of genotypes of Palmaria mollis (Setchell et Gardner) van der Meer et Bird, a red alga. We sampled populations along the Northeast Pacific coast from northern Washington to southwestern Alaska, an area extensively glaciated during the last ice age. Our objective was to determine whether the tracks of postglacial recolonization could be extracted from the extant pattern of genotype distribution in a species with limited dispersal capabilities. Thirty-eight individuals from 14 sites were sampled for RAPD markers using nine different random primers. As expected, individuals from the same population were more closely related to each other than to individuals from other populations. Relationships among populations, however, did not necessarily reflect geographic proximity. Rather, populations fell into groups corresponding approximately to outer and inner coastal sites: the northwestern end of Vancouver Island and the Queen Charlotte Islands formed one outer coast group, which associated with sites from Prince William Sound, the Alaska Peninsula, and Sitka, Alaska; the eastern side of Vancouver Island and Ketchikan, Alaska, represented one group of inner sites, which associated with sites near Juneau, Alaska and the eastern end of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. We conclude that this pattern does not represent a single postglacial recolonization event. Key words: biogeography, dispersal, genetic distance, Palmaria mollis, RAPDs, Rhodophyta.


1982 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 597-618 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Clague ◽  
John R. Harper ◽  
R. J. Hebda ◽  
D. E. Howes

Late Quaternary sea-level fluctuations on the British Columbia coast have been established from studies of terrestrial and marine sediments and landforms. These studies indicate that the sea-level history of mainland British Columbia and eastern Vancouver Island is very different from that of the Queen Charlotte Islands and western Vancouver Island. Specifically, in the former areas, there was a rapid rise of submerged coastal lowlands between about 13 000 and 10 000 years ago. Emergence culminated about 6000–9000 years ago, depending on the locality, when the sea, relative to the land, was 12 m or more lower than at present in some areas. During middle and late Holocene time, relative sea level rose on the mainland coast and at least locally on eastern Vancouver Island, resulting in inundation of coastal archaeological sites and low-lying terrestrial vegetation. Tidal records and precise levelling suggest ongoing submergence of at least part of this region.In contrast, shorelines on the Queen Charlotte Islands were below present from before 13 700 years ago until approximately 9500–10 000 years ago. A transgression at the close of the Pleistocene climaxed about 7500–8500 years ago when relative sea level probably was about 15 m above present in most areas. Most of the emergence that followed apparently occurred in the last 5000–6000 years. There has been a similar pattern of emergence on the west coast of Vancouver Island during late Holocene time.The above patterns of late Quaternary sea-level change are attributed to complex isostatic response to downwasting and retreat of the late Wisconsin Cordilleran Ice Sheet, to transfers of water from melting ice sheets to oceans, and to plate interactions on the British Columbia continental margin. Late Pleistocene and early Holocene crustal movements were dominantly isostatic. Although the recent regression on the outer coast likely is due, at least in part, to tectonic uplift, some late Holocene sea-level change in this area and elsewhere on the British Columbia coast may be either eustatic in nature or a residual isostatic response to deglaciation, which occurred thousands of years earlier.


2009 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 939-951 ◽  
Author(s):  
James W. Haggart ◽  
Peter D. Ward ◽  
Timothy D. Raub ◽  
Elizabeth S. Carter ◽  
Joseph L. Kirschvink

1974 ◽  
Vol 52 (8) ◽  
pp. 989-992
Author(s):  
Gordon A. Robilliard

The range of the nudibranch molluscs Archidoris odhneri, Cadlina luteomarginaia, and Dendronotus rufus has been extended northward to Auke Bay, Alaska, from Vancouver Island, British Columbia. The range of Archidoris montereyensis has been extended to Port Valdez, Alaska, from Sitka, Alaska, while that of Dirana aurantia and Coryphella fusca has been extended to Port Valdez from Vancouver Island. The range of Archidoris odhneri has also been extended southward to San Diego, California, from Point Conception, California. Large gaps in the geographic distribution of Triopha carpenteri and Dendronotus dalli were partially filled by observation of animals in southeastern Alaska. Finally, the distribution of Tochuina tetraquetra along the Pacific Coast is discussed.


2002 ◽  
Vol 39 (11) ◽  
pp. 1591-1603 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth L Nicholls ◽  
Dirk Meckert

A new fauna of fossil marine reptiles is described from the Late Cretaceous Nanaimo Group of Vancouver Island. The fossils are from the Haslam and Pender formations (upper Santonian) near Courtenay, British Columbia, and include elasmosaurid plesiosaurs, turtles, and mosasaurs. This is only the second fauna of Late Cretaceous marine reptiles known from the Pacific Coast, the other being from the Moreno Formation of California (Maastrichtian). The new Nanaimo Group fossils are some 15 million years older than those from the Moreno Formation. However, like the California fauna, there are no polycotylid plesiosaurs, and one of the mosasaurs is a new genus. This reinforces the provinciality of the Pacific faunas and their isolation from contemporaneous faunas in the Western Interior Seaway.


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