Animal Adaptations: Evolution of Forms and Functions

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It has become clear that the pineal gland is necessary for the regulation of photoperiodic responses and that pineal melatonin may be responsible for transmitting daylength information ( Hoffmann, 1981b; Goldman, 1983; Hoffmann, 1985; Masson-Pevet et al., 1986).

We placed vehicle input points at the beginning of the link, and data collection points midway along the road, and specified the hourly traffic volume at each vehicle input point. The average harmonic speed of traffic flow at each traffic volume and free flow speeds of different traffic components were selected as data collection measurement attributes (outputs of the simulation). Each simulation was run for 600 s (10 min) with 20 replicates. Simulation resolution of 10 time steps/second was set to maximize speed data collection at data collection points. Species characteristics We calculated AVC probability ( P h) under different scenarios of traffic heterogeneity on 2-lane and 4-lane sections of the road using Eq. ( 1). The exposure risk in seconds i.e., the time on the road for which an animal would be vulnerable to collision as a function of road width and P h was also calculated. Influence of animal activity on AVC risk Haematological analysis: From the respective groups above, four mice were sacrificed from each of the groups on days 3, 8 and 14 post-infection and blood samples collected in heparinized sample bottles were submitted for haematological examination.Shepard, D. B., Kuhns, A. R., Dreslik, M. J. & Philips, C. A. Roads as barriers to animal movement in fragmented landscapes. Anim. Conserv. 11, 288–296. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-1795.2008.00183.x (2008).

Almost all animals inhabiting natural environments are exposed to changes in important climatic factors like temperature, rainfall, humidity and photoperiod. It is these factors on which they rely to cue changes in their sexual status, and an interaction between them and the sexual activity has been reported ( Pevet, 1985a, b; Pevet et al., 1987; Vivien-Roles and Pevet, 1983). The pineal gland has been shown to be involved in the long term adaptation of animal to seasonal reproduction ( Pevet, 1985b; Reiter, 1985). The MI synthesized by the pineal gland act on the hypothalamo-hypophysealgonadal axis and may exert a stimulatory, inhibitory or no effect on the gonads depending on their mode and time of administration ( Berndtson et al., 1974; Ebels et al., 1965; Hoffmann, 1981a; Peat et al., 1971; Turek et al., 1975). The pineal gland of F. pennanti, a tropical seasonal breeder, is sensitive to environmental daylength, temperature and humidity ( Haldar et al., 1988; Haldar et al., 1990). Evening injections of MI inhibit testicular activity of this rodent ( Saxena et al., 1992; Saxena, 1997). Day-night variations in plasma aMT suggest the existence of a diurnal rhythmi- city in pineal activity of this mammal ( Saxena et al., 1993). We present a framework to identify species and roads vulnerable to AVC as a function of road, traffic and species characteristics, using data from traffic simulations under different traffic heterogeneity and volume scenarios, and morphometry and behavioural data of six widespread large mammals of Central India. The study was conducted on a 60 km stretch of the National Highway 44 (NH 44) passing through the Pench Tiger Reserve (PTR) in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra states. Rico, A., Kindlmann, P. & Sedlacek, F. Barrier effect of roads on movement of small mammals. Folia Zool. 56(1), 1–12 (2007).Clarke, G. P., White, P. C. L. & Harris, S. Effects of roads on badger Meles meles populations in south-west England. Biol. Conserv. 86, 117–124 (1998). Rajan Saxena, Indian management academic and the Vice-Chancellor of the SVKM's NMIM deemed university in Mumbai Majumder, A. Prey Selection, Food Habits and Population Structure of Sympatric Carnivores: Tiger Panthera tigris tigris (L.), Leopard Panthera pardus (L.) and Dhole Cuon alpinus (Pallas) in Pench Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh (India) (Saurashtra University, Rajkot, 2011). As in the aforementioned studies 8, 23, 37, the aim of the study is not to determine the actual number of mortalities, but to help determine high-risk roads, traffic compositions and species groups most vulnerable to collision and barrier effects. Our model defines a way to identify components of a road network most vulnerable to roadkill, and could be used to identify road network components requiring prioritised mitigation action. In the absence of data on animal movement near roads, the present approach using species traits and behaviour could help prioritise mitigation for species most vulnerable to collision with vehicles. Pinealectomy always appeared stimulatory to the testes and pinealectomized squirrels exhibited significant increase in testes weight and seminiferous tubule diameter in comparison to SO controls. Under SP pinealectomized animals showed significantly higher testes weight and seminiferous tubule diameter as compared to SO animals as these were unable to perceive environmental information in the absence of pineal gland. Therefore, they maintained an active gonad as evident by higher testes weight and seminiferous tubule diameter.