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Domestic cattle have spread across the globe and inhabit variable and unpredictable environments. They have been exposed to a plethora of selective pressures and have adapted to a variety of local ecological and management conditions, including UV exposure, diseases, and stall-feeding systems. These selective pressures have resulted in unique and important phenotypic and genetic differences among modern cattle breeds/populations. Ongoing efforts to sequence the genomes of local and commercial cattle breeds/populations, along with the growing availability of ancient bovid DNA data, have significantly advanced our understanding of the genomic architecture, recent evolution of complex traits, common diseases, and local adaptation in cattle. Here, we review the origin and spread of domestic cattle and illustrate the environmental adaptations of local cattle breeds/populations.

Domestic cattle have spread across the globe and inhabit variable and unpredictable environments. They have been exposed to a plethora of selective pressures and have adapted to a variety of local ecological and management conditions, including UV exposure, diseases, and stall-feeding systems. These selective pressures have resulted in unique and important phenotypic and genetic differences among modern cattle breeds/populations. Ongoing efforts to sequence the genomes of local and commercial cattle breeds/populations, along with the growing availability of ancient bovid DNA data, have significantly advanced our understanding of the genomic architecture, recent evolution of complex traits, common diseases, and local adaptation in cattle. Here, we review the origin and spread of domestic cattle and illustrate the environmental adaptations of local cattle breeds/populations., Domestic cattle have spread across the globe and inhabit variable and unpredictable environments. They have been exposed to a plethora of selective pressures and have adapted to a variety of local ecological and management conditions, including UV exposure, diseases, and stall-feeding systems. These selective pressures have resulted in unique and important phenotypic and genetic differences among modern cattle breeds/populations. Ongoing efforts to sequence the genomes of local and commercial cattle breeds/populations, along with the growing availability of ancient bovid DNA data, have significantly advanced our understanding of the genomic architecture, recent evolution of complex traits, common diseases, and local adaptation in cattle. Here, we review the origin and spread of domestic cattle and illustrate the environmental adaptations of local cattle breeds/populations.

Domestic cattle have spread across the globe and inhabit variable and unpredictable environments. They have been exposed to a plethora of selective pressures and have adapted to a variety of local ecological and management conditions, including UV exposure, diseases, and stall-feeding systems. These selective pressures have resulted in unique and important phenotypic and genetic differences among modern cattle breeds/populations. Ongoing efforts to sequence the genomes of local and commercial cattle breeds/populations, along with the growing availability of ancient bovid DNA data, have significantly advanced our understanding of the genomic architecture, recent evolution of complex traits, common diseases, and local adaptation in cattle. Here, we review the origin and spread of domestic cattle and illustrate the environmental adaptations of local cattle breeds/populations., Domestic cattle have spread across the globe and inhabit variable and unpredictable environments. They have been exposed to a plethora of selective pressures and have adapted to a variety of local ecological and management conditions, including UV exposure, diseases, and stall-feeding systems. These selective pressures have resulted in unique and important phenotypic and genetic differences among modern cattle breeds/populations. Ongoing efforts to sequence the genomes of local and commercial cattle breeds/populations, along with the growing availability of ancient bovid DNA data, have significantly advanced our understanding of the genomic architecture, recent evolution of complex traits, common diseases, and local adaptation in cattle. Here, we review the origin and spread of domestic cattle and illustrate the environmental adaptations of local cattle breeds/populations.

The recent discovery of a fossil of Enhydritherium terraenovae in upper Miocene fluvial deposits in Juchipila (Mexico), nearly 200 km away from the nearest coast, together with other known occurrences of the same species in Florida and California, made possible to envision an alternative to the Panamanian and Polar routes of migration through fluvial systems in Mexico. In order to cross from one ocean to the other, individuals of E. terraenovae must have passed the continental divide, which is a physiographic feature that separates surface waters that flow into the Atlantic and Pacific versants. Two vast endorheic regions, which together span more than 400,000 km2 in area, currently dominate drainage systems in northern and central Mexico. The endorheic regions are broadly bounded by two mountain ranges and coincide with the arid and semi-arid regions of the Chihuahuan desert. These closed basins are an additional obstacle for migration. However, drainage systems are constantly varying and adjusting to changing conditions imposed by climate, tectonic activity, volcanism, and pronounced asymmetries in topography and rainfall distribution. The migration route across Mexico for Enhydritherium terraenovae in the late Miocene (≥6 Ma) could have been facilitated by one or more river captures that inverted the flow direction near the headwaters of a drainage system that debouched either into the Gulf of Mexico or the Pacific coast. Biologists studying fresh water fish faunas in the southern part of the United States and in northern and central Mexico have documented several living species that occur in both the Rio Grande and in the Mezquital rivers, two drainages that are not presently connected, drain in opposite directions (i.e. towards the Gulf of Mexico and the Gulf of California, respectively) and are separated by the endorheic regions. Furthermore, systematic studies of fresh water fish faunas in the region has numerous examples of endemicity and allopatric speciati

1. Cougar (Puma concolor) populations, like other large carnivores, have increased during recent decades and may be recolonizing their former ranges in Midwestern North America. The dispersal routes taken by these animals from established populations are unknown and insight into these movements would facilitate their conservation and management. 2. We inferred the origin and migration route of four dispersing cougars using stable hydrogen (δD) and carbon (δ13C) isotope values along one of their claws. We compared isotopic variations within claws to regional and large-scale isoscapes of δD and δ13C values in prey species. Using a likelihood-based assignment approach, we predicted the most likely dispersal route of each cougar (among several least-cost dispersal paths to potential source populations) in a chronological sequence dating back from its final location. 3. Our model predicted the origin of a radio-collared short-distance disperser and inferences about the most likely dispersal corridors for two long-distance dispersers matched reported information from re-sighting events and genetic investigations. 4. Insights about the most likely migration corridors may help identify critical areas and guide future conservation efforts of cougars and other large carnivores. We encourage managers to extend regional isoscapes based on sedentary prey species as they prove to be valuable tools in isotopic tracking of long-distance migration. 5. Our isotopic approach may be extended to other metabolically inert tissues that grow continuously, to investigate dispersal paths of species of interest, providing that individuals disperse across known isotopically structured landscapes.

Phenology of Coscoroba Swan (Coscoroba coscoroba) in southern Brazil and their movements to Argentina. – The Coscoroba Swan (Coscoroba coscoroba) is an unusual member of the Anatidae. It has a patchy distribution and is a partial migrant found from the Falkland Islands and Tierra del Fuego through Chile and Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay as far north as Mato Grosso do Sul in Brazil. This study describes the movements of Coscoroba swans banded outside the boundary of and in side the “Estaçao Ecológica do Taim” Reserve (c. 32°33’S, 52°32’W) in the southern coastal plain of the State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil and the phenology in this area. The analysis of banding and recapture or recovery data was conducted between 2005 and 2008, and data from birds marked between 1979 and 2006 were also obtained from “Centro Nacional de Pesquisas e Conservação de Aves Silvestres” (CEMAVE). Distance between sites, the location of marking and recapture or recovery sites, and sex and age were analyzed. A total of 1070 birds were banded and ringed during the flightless wing moult and 32 recaptures or recoveries were registered during the study period (27 inside the banding area and five outside), the resighting of a Coscoroba in Chubut, Argentina (43°21’S, 65°03’W) being most noteworthy. A route between Argentina and Brazil to the central depression of Rio Grande do Sul state (to and from the Taim area) was confirmed as well as fidelity to Taim as a molting site and important breeding area. Recaptures at Taim showed a prevalence of male adults that may indicate a greater male fidelity to the natal area and juvenile dispersal to other areas until sexual maturity is reached., El Coscoroba (Coscoroba coscoroba) es un miembro inusual de la familia Anatidae. Su población tiene una distribución desigual y es parcialmente migratoria, distribuyéndose desde las Islas Malvinas y Tierra del Fuego hasta Chile y Argentina al sur, Uruguay y Paraguay y como límite norte Mato Grosso do Sul en Brasil. Este estudio describe los movimientos de animales anillados en los alrededores y dentro de la Reserva “Estaçao Ecológica do Taim” (c. 32°33’S, 52°32’W) localizada en la llanura costera del extremo sur del Estado de Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil y caracteriza la fenología del Coscoroba en esa área. Los datos de marcaje y recaptura o recuperación provienen de datos propios obtenidos entre el 2005 y el 2008 y datos cedidos por el “Centro Nacional de Pesquisas e Conservação de Aves Silvestres” (CEMAVE) obtenidos entre 1979 y 2006. La distancia entre los sitios de marcaje y recaptura o recuperación de anillas, las coordenadas, el sexo y la edad fueron analizadas. Un total de 1070 aves fueron marcadas con anillas durante la muda y 32 recapturas o recuperaciones fueron registradas durante el período del estudio (27 dentro del área de captura y cinco fuera) dando énfasis a