Talk:Wood Turtle Mating Behavior and Energy Used

Expanded Outline:

I. Behaviors during the mating process, specially female wood turtle habitat preparation before mating begins (example: nest components) and mating times

researching Wood turtles in Quebec, mating occurred more often in the Spring time (77% of mating that occurred) and specifically during the afternoon hours (Walde 2003) females expend a high amount of energy preparing their nests and searching for high-quality nest sites (Hughes 2009) soil with higher temperature is preferred and near a stream; females can use the same nest year after year in order to save energy (Buckinski 2002) II. Parental care of male and female turtles after fertilization occurs, specifically the energy costs of the female during gestation and the amount of parental care exhibited after the eggs have been laid and hatch.

III. Multiple paternity patterns within populations and the genetic effects of this phenomena, including the evolution of sperm storage in females

wood turtles living in freshwater show evidence of clutches with multiple paternity (Pearse 2001) with multiple paternity present in wood turtle populations, females mate with more htan one male in order to copultae and obtain multiple sires of a clutch (Pearse 2001) IV. Male dominance and hierarchy, specifically how that increases an individual male's fitness and number of offspring

male-male combat as the sexual selection force in wood turtle populations (Pearse 2001) male rank and hierarchy linked to reproductive success because higher ranked males have more number of offspring than lower ranked males Wood Turtle Bibliography:

1.) Pearse, D.E., and J. C. Avise. "Turtle Mating Systems: Behavior, Sperm, Storage, and Genetic Paternity." Journal Of Heredity 92.2 (2001): 206-11.

2.) Buckinski, Amber. "American Wood Turtle." The Virtual Nature Trail At Penn State New Kensington. Pennsylvania State University , 2002. 12 Feb. 2017.

3.) Walde, Andrew D., J. Roger Bider, Claude Daigle, Denis Masse, Jean-CLaude Bourgeois, Jacques Jutras, and Rodger D. Titman. 2003. Ecological aspects of a Wood Turtle, Glyptemys insculpta, population at the northern limit of its range in Quebec. Canadian Field-Naturalist 117(3): 377-388.

4.) Hughes, Geoffrey N., William F. Greaves, and Jacqueline D. Litzgus. "Nest-Site Selection by Wood Turtles ( Glyptemys insculpta ) in a Thermally Limited Environment." Northeastern Naturalist 16.3 (2009): 321-38. BioOne. 12 Feb. 2017.

5.) Mccoard, Kathryn R.p., Anthony A. Billings, and James T. Anderson. "Wood Turtle Home Range and Habitat Use in the Central Appalachians." Chelonian Conservation and Biology 15.2 (2016): 173-80. BioOne. 12 Feb. 2017.

6.) Protection, Department Of Environmental. "DEEP: Wood Turtle Fact Sheet." DEEP: Wood Turtle Fact Sheet. 12 Feb. 2017.

7.) "North American Wood Turtle - Glyptemys insculpta - Overview." Encyclopedia of Life. 13 Feb. 2017.

8.) Harding, James. "Glyptemys insculpta ((North American) Wood Turtle)." Animal Diversity Web. University of Michigan, 2013. 13 Feb. 2017.

9.) Castellano, Christina Marie. Ecology and Conservation of the Wood Turtle, Glyptemys insculpta, at Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. Thesis. Fordham University, 2003. Ann Arbor: UMI Microform, 2003.

10.) "Reptiles and Amphibians of Virginia." Wood Turtle (Glyptemys insculpta). 13 Feb. 2017.

Outline for sexual behaviors of Wood Turtles:

I. Behaviors during the mating process, specially female wood turtle habitat preparation before mating begins (example: nest components) and mating times

II. Parental care of male and female turtles after fertilization occurs, specifically the energy costs of the female during gestation and the amount of parental care exhibited after the eggs have been laid and hatch.

III. Multiple paternity patterns within populations and the genetic effects of this phenomena, including the evolution of sperm storage in females

IV. Male dominance and hierarchy, specifically how that increases an individual male's fitness and number of offspring

Overall, I plan to contribute more scientific data correlating male dominance to increased male fitness and number of offspring in the hierarchy of the male wood turtle population. Also, I will add more details about the specific mating habitats, including the nest components made by the females and research data indicating the time of day most popular for mating. I will contribute more information about the energy costs to females during fertilized egg develop and why very little parental care exists after the eggs are laid. Another reference that was used will define multiple paternity and how this phenomena has evolved within wood turtles and female sperm storage.

from Kasey: this is a great start! Lots of good information. I would suggest boiling down some of the sections (e.g. nest site and nest building) to be a short and succinct as possible. Avoid saying "researchers have found" - including citations indicates this. Your content in great, you have nicely incorporated evolutionary concepts from class, and your sources are very appropriate. I will add more comments after the article summary is done on the 14th! Evol&Glass (talk

1.) One article I was interested in researching and providing information onto Wikipedia is the reproductive behaviors, modes, and spawning of sharks. Sharks give birth to live young and have very aggressive and rough spawning behavior that can last up to two or three days. 2.) Another article I was interested in researching is the Chinese mantis and its sexual cannibalism mating behavior. On the existing Chinese mantis Wikipedia page, there is little information on its mating behaviors, including female eating the male during copulation as well as the steps leading to copulation between the male and female. 3.) A third article I was interested in researching is turtle behaviors, specifically mating behaviors and parental care for their young. Unlike birds and other mammals, turtles do not for pair bonds in social groups and do not take care of their young after mating and producing offspring. I would add this new information to the existing turtle wikipedia page. 4.) A fourth article that I could research is Clownfish and their ability to change sex from a male to a female. I would add to the existing Clownfish Wikipedia page what constraints in the environment are needed for Clownfish to change sex and how changing sex makes the individual have a higher fitness. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jenniehorstmann (talk • contribs) 18:16, 8 February 2017 (UTC)

Tylosema esculentum peer review by Nishant Jain General comments: What is the main take home message of this article?

• Local and community use, scarification and seed germination, and heterostylous and its evolutionary significance of the Morama bean in its native environment

What do you like about this Wikipedia contribution? What do you dislike?

• like:Very organized. Easy to follow. Felt like an official wiki article
• dislike: Would be nice to have transition or a summary/analysis of how the three sections relate

Is there anything written that doesn’t make sense?

• Again, very well organized. Helped with comprehension. The “heterostylous” section was a little difficult to understand.

What questions do you have as you are reading the text? Be specific.

• How does the nutritional content of Morama beans compare to other legumes? What about other major crops, like corn?

Grammar Do you see any spelling errors? Are there any periods or commas that are missing or out-of-place?

• I would break up a couple sentences into two. Notably the first sentence in the “heterostylous” section.

Are all scientific names written correctly, italicized with the genus name capitalized and the specific epithet starting with a lower case?

• Yes

References Are there five distinct references?

• Yes

Are each of the references from a scientific journal?

• Yes

re the references cited correctly?

• SLU library reference is incorrect. Need the actual article not database.

Peer Review General comments: i. This is a great article! I particularly like how you have three sections for your article. Everything makes sense and you clearly understand what you are writing about. For example, I like the first paragraph about the plant’s ability to grow in harsh environmental conditions with little rainfall. ii. The first paragraph is a great introduction. However, I think the second and third paragraph may be better fitted at the end of the article. That way you discuss genetic and evolutionary information about the plant first, and then information about human consumption. Grammar iii. I think the sentence beginning with “Other nutrition sources…” is missing a word after “sources”. Maybe, “Other nutritional sources state that…”? iv. You should italicize the plant’s scientific name in the very first sentence. v. The name should also be italicized in the second sentence in the Scarification section. References vi. Great job with your references! Should there be a citation after the last sentence in the Scarification paragraph? Also, should there be a citation at the end of the first paragraph?

Bgupta1 (talk) 16:21, 1 December 2015 (UTC)

Peer Review

I really like how you have divvied your contributions into short sections, as it makes the information easier to take in and understand. I think it may be helpful if you rearrange these sections such that the reader is presented with the section “Male dominance and hierarchy increasing individual’s fitness” before “Multiple paternity patterns within brood turtle populations” so that the content of these sections progresses more chronologically (i.e. move from nest building to male combat and copulation to sperm storage to patterns of multiple paternity) and will be easier for readers to understand.

It seems like you have a lot of interesting information on features of wood turtle mating and that you have incorporated ideas from class throughout. One other thing I might suggest is to make your first section more concise so that it is easier to grasp for your readers.

Some topics I would have liked to read more about are

- Sperm storage in females (How long can sperm be stored—over multiple breeding seasons? Is cryptic female choice operating here? Sperm competition?) - Male-to-male combat (Is it the larger males that generally win? Have males evolved any traits to help them win in combat?) - Courtship behaviors (In addition to male-to-male combat, is there any other sort of ritual, display, or dance used to woo females?)

I think adding more information about these or other topics may make your article more comprehensive and informative for readers.

On a smaller note, I think it may be more fitting with the format of Wikipedia to report the results of research without explicitly stating things such as “researchers have found”, etc. (to maintain an encyclopedic tone).

You also have reliable sources and do good job citing throughout! However, there are a few statements that don’t appear to be attributed to a specific source (e.g. the fact that nests are 4 inches wide and 3 inches deep or that females cover their nests to prevent predation). Citing your information may be helpful for readers looking to find more information on any given statement you add to the article. Akl95 (talk) 03:05, 18 March 2017 (UTC)

Response to peer editing: Thank you for your feedback on switching the order of my sections. I agree that putting male dominance before multiple paternity would be more logical in the readers' minds. Sperm storage in the Wood turtle females is still unknown, although in other turtle species females have an internal compartment where they will store the sperm and keep it viable for years even! So i may be able to add that fact in my article while making sure my readers know that sperm storage in wood turtles is still unknown. I also agree with the "researchers have found" point you made and I will adjust that in my article. Jenniehorstmann (talk) 20:26, 20 March 2017 (UTC)Jennie Horstmann

Peer review 2

Global edits: The only global edits I could see would possibly place the male mating and paternity patterns before female mating. This might make sense because of the ending sentence of the paternity section talks about female sperm storage and cryptic choice. However, the current structure might still make more sense as I understood the material! Overall, great job!

Local edits: For smaller edits I would suggest adding citations to the first section and to several places throughout. For instance: Beyond the energy required to lay eggs for this oviparous species, female wood turtles expend a high degree of energy searching for a nest site and then building that nest site to withstand predators. Due to a lack of parental care, the location and quality of the nest site determine the survival and overall fitness of the offspring. Researches have analyzed which type of locations are preferred and increase survival for the offspring, in regards to soil temperature and composition. The male individuals of the wood turtle species undergo the sexual selection force of male-male combat in order to determine which male has reproductive access. After the fight match, the winning male turtle is allowed to mate with the females in the population. Multiple paternity is when offspring have genetic traits from more than one male father, and this phenomenon is exhibited by many freshwater and marine water turtles. Specifically for the freshwater wood turtle species, multiple paternity patterns have been evident by DNA fingerprinting in turtle populations. DNA fingerprinting of turtles is a process for reliably determining paternity in vertebrates, involving complex social interactions within dominance hierarchies such as in Wood Turtle populations. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Wshoenberger (talk • contribs) 03:21, 29 March 2017 (UTC)

Peer Review 2: The content is extremely interesting and you have found some great research and information. I would like to learn more about parental care in the turtles and what kind of investment it involves; it was only mentioned briefly but could add depth to the article. In addition, did you find in the research why the turtles prefer soil at a higher temperature, or soil that is located near a stream? It is an interesting factoid but it would add to the big picture of article if you can include the mechanism or reasoning behind it. In terms of local edits, it appears well cited. Focus on polishing up the sentences and fixing minor spelling mistakes, like "htan" and "copultae". Those are really just minor things, otherwise you have a great article in the works. Ags5930 (talk) 03:52, 29 March 2017 (UTC)