Blue Genes Media

I spoke with someone knowledgeable who conveyed that within the same deer species, there is variation in the type of plants the deer will consume, influenced by the environment. I’ve been working on a project about Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) and found that deer will consume this plant despite its toxins. #sciart

Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus) model. The Cornell eBird site provides access to raw data on bird observations if you are interested in local bird populations. They also developed an R package named “auk” to analyze the data. The data comes from birders who record their sightings and includes several years of information across many regions and species. The data can be filtered by time and region among other criteria when downloaded. The export comes in a tab-delimited format so standard R packages for statistical analysis can also be used on the raw data. #sciart https://lnkd.in/ecjFi6Mt https://lnkd.in/ecE3q7a5 This Red-bellied Woodpecker is not considered endangered and is a common, yet stunning, site in the Eastern United States.

This is a quick illustration inspired by pigeon color genetics. During a walk around NYC, I noticed that most pigeons had dark-colored plumage and only a few were red or brown. The University of Utah provides an overview of the genetics responsible for pigeon color. According to Domyan et al., (2014), 3 genes control the color of a rock pigeon (Columba livia). The sex-linked gene, Tyrp1, has alleles (different versions of a gene) that establish the base pigeon color of either blue/black, ash-red, or brown. Each allele produces a different variation of the TYRP1 protein which influences the type and amount of melanin formed that gives the feathers its hue. Blue/black is considered the wild type (not a mutation) however the allele for ash-red is dominant. A different pigeon color, red, results from the mutated recessive red allele located on the second involved gene, Sox10. When the pigeon inherits the recessive red allele from both parents, there is an epistatic effect on the Tyrp1 gene so that the pigeon will always be red regardless of the base color. The third involved gene, Slc45a2, controls whether the color of the plumage is highly saturated or washed out. Population genetics can influence the distribution of phenotypes. A paper by Chatelain, Gasparini, and Frantz (2014) discusses a theory that blue/black pigeons may have an adaptive advantage since the melanin that produces their darker color has a proclivity to bind to heavy metals, such as the type found in the urban environment. The researchers hypothesized that toxic metal ions can bind with the melanin molecules in the birds’ bloodstream leading to the extraction and storage of the toxins in the bird’s feathers. This would result in the blue/black pigeons being more suited to urban environments. Something to think about next time you take a stroll around a city! #sciart References 1.     Chatelain, M., Gasparini, J., Jacquin, L., & Frantz, A. (2014). The adaptive function of melanin-based plumage coloration to trace metals. Biology letters, 10(3), 20140164. 2.     Domyan, E.T., Guernsey, M.W., Kronenberg, Z.N., Krishnan, S., Boissy, R.E., Vickrey, A.I., Rodgers, C., Cassidy, P.B., Leachman, S.A., Fondon, J.W., Yandell, M., & Shapiro, M.D. (2014). Epistatic and Combinatorial Effects of Pigmentary Gene Mutations in the Domestic Pigeon. Current Biology, 24, 459-464. Retrieved from https://lnkd.in/edRExPYN.

I drew this giraffe illustration for a class. The research I found for the drawing was fascinating so I added 3D models to visualize what I learned. #sciart #scientificillustration #scienceart #3dart