Project Director

Gaudin, Timothy

Department Examiner

Craddock, J. Hill; Van Horn, Gene; Trimpey, Margaret

Department

Dept. of Biological and Environmental Sciences

Publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Place of Publication

Chattanooga (Tenn.)

Abstract

In response to conflicting reports of the distribution of the two species of Blarina (B. brevicauda and B. carolinensis) in the Tennessee Valley area, specimens from The Natural History Museum of The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and The University of Georgia were analyzed. Cranial measurements were used in both a discriminant function analysis and a principle components analysis to determine species assignments. Blarina brevicauda was found in central Tennessee, the highlands of the Cumberland Plateau, and the mountains of far east Tennessee, whereas B. carolinensis was found in the Ridge and Valley of southeast Tennessee, separated from B. brevicauda by the Tennessee River. Additional localities throughout Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, and South Carolina were also mapped. A collection of Pleistocene Blarina dentaries from Lookout Mountain was also analyzed by discriminant function analysis on a series of lower jaw measurements. This technique was verified by analyzing recent specimens by cranial measurements and dentary measurements seperately, and determining that the same species groupings could be derived by lower jaw measurements alone. The fossil material was assigned to B. brevicauda with 100% probability.

Degree

B. S.; An honors thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Bachelor of Science.

Date

4-1999

Subject

Southern short-tailed shrew--Geographical distribution; Blarina--Tennessee River Valley

Discipline

Environmental Monitoring

Document Type

Theses

Extent

i, 59 leaves

DCMI Type

Text

Language

English

Call Number

LB2369.5 .J444 1999

Rights

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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