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The Black-Footed Ferret

The Black-Footed Ferret. Amanda Heyn, Laura Icenhour, & Evan Fitch. Background. Black-Footed Ferrets are members of the weasel family (Mustelidae) Ferrets are nocturnal and do most hunting at night. http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/staticfiles/NGS/Shared/

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The Black-Footed Ferret

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  1. The Black-Footed Ferret Amanda Heyn, Laura Icenhour, & Evan Fitch

  2. Background • Black-Footed Ferrets are members of the weasel family (Mustelidae) • Ferrets are nocturnal and do most hunting at night http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/staticfiles/NGS/Shared/ StaticFiles/animals/images/primary/black-footed-ferret.jpg

  3. Background Cont’d • The Black-Footed Ferret prey on prairie dogs and lives in their burrows • Ferrets were thought to be extinct • A population of ferrets was found in 1981 http://www.nps.gov/wica/naturescience/images/Prairie-Dogs.jpg

  4. Survival Factors • Cancer carried on recessive allele • Susceptibility to Canine distemper • A contagious, incurable, often fatal, multisystemic viral disease affecting the respiratory, gastrointestinal, and central nervous systems in mammals. • Canine distemper is fatal for ferrets 100% of the time. • First introduced to ferret population in 1981

  5. Geographical Location • Ferrets were once found throughout the Great Plains, from Texas to southern Saskatchewan, Canada. • Since 1985, efforts have been made to breed the ferrets in captivity and then reintroduce them into the wild. http://www.ngpc.state.ne.us/wildlife/ferret.asp

  6. Bottleneck effect refers to the reduction of a population’s gene pool and the accompanying changes in gene frequency produced when a few members survive the widespread elimination of a species. The black footed ferrets underwent a bottleneck effect resulting in the last wild population site of ferrets to be discovered in Meeteetse, Wyoming 1981. About 25% of the original 19 founders’ genes have made it into the current population. Bottleneck Effect

  7. If canine distemper had been allowed to continue in the population in Wyoming… • Would the prevalent genotypes reverse? • Would the dangerous recessive allele lead to an increased number of ferret death?

  8. Vensim Model

  9. Genotypes 1 0.5 0 0 2 4 6 8 10 Time (Month) Homozygous Dominant : Current Heterozygous : Current Homozygous Recessive : Current Total Pop : Current

  10. Vensim Key • Homozygous Dominant=Blue • As time increases dominant allele decreases • Homozygous Recessive=Green • As time increases dangerous recessive allele levels off • Heterozygous=Red • As time increases heterozygous allele remains unaffected

  11. Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium p² + 2pq + q² = 1 p + q =1 p2 =.33 Total Population=180 p=.57 HD=42 q=.43 HR=59 q2 =.18 H=79 2pq=.49

  12. Hardy-Weinberg Graph • X axis=P • Y axis=Q • As P increases Q decreases • P=.57 • Q=.43

  13. Pictures http://www.pc.gc.ca/nature/eep-sar/itm3-/images/MikeLockhart2-.jpg http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/news/03/images/black_footed_ferrets.jpg http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2007/08/10/black_footedferret1_wideweb__470x314,0.jpg http://ww1.prweb.com/prfiles/2007/05/14/526310/BlackFootedFerrets04Web.jpg

  14. Resources • Averting Extinction, Tim W. Clark • Prairie Night; Brian Miller, Richard P. Reading, and Steve Forrest • http://www.defenders.org/wildlife_and_habitat/wildlife/black-footed_ferret.php • www.animalhealthgeneral.com

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