Browsing by Subject "Natural history"
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Item Collection management and analysis of the Lake Theo Folsom bone assemblage(Texas Tech University, 1997-08) Baxevanis, Susan E.The Lake Theo Collection is an important representation of a Paleoindian multi-component site on the Southern Plains. Its current state of degradation is not reversible; however, future deterioration has been slowed by the implementation of standard preservation and collection management techniques. The Collection Management Plan involves the inventory, cleaning, and stabihzation of the Collection, followed by adequate packaging, and storage by today's standards. StabiUzing and cataloging the Lake Theo Collection allows a re-investigation into this site without the need of additional excavations. The re-investigation potential of the site is demonstrated through a prehminary analysis of the bone material for species identification, morphological element, and evidence of taphonomic processes. The re-investigation of the Collection and the now useable Collection itself also lay the foundation for future research questions and excavation approach if the site were to be reopened. In the past, post-excavation care generally was not included in the archaeologist's budget or plan, and was a museum's responsibility alone. Many archaeological collections received by museums as unprocessed collections remained in that condition because museums could not afford the burden of the care that these collections pose (Bleed and Nickel, 1989). Even fewer could afford post-excavation research on the collections. The responsibihty the generator of a collection has to its in-perpetuity care has increased greatly, and recently-generated collections tend to be in much better condition upon arrival at a museum. However, older, unprocessed collections should not be ignored and allowed to deteriorate further and must be addressed in a museum's long-term goals. These collections contain information vital to the interpretation of archaeological sites that must be utilized before further destruction of a site is undertaken. The information the unprocessed collections contain can be useful in the planning and implementation of further excavations at the site from which the collection came.Item Diversity, distribution, and natural history of the mammals of Big Bend Ranch State Park, Texas(Texas Tech University, 1996-12) Yancey, Franklin DelanoA comprehensive study of the mammalian fauna of Big Bend Ranch State Park (BBRSP), Texas, was conducted. Extensive field work performed during 1994 and 1995, supplemented with the examination of museum specimens and a review of the literature, resulted in the documentation of five orders, 18 families, and 59 species of native mammals in the park. The mammalian fauna of BBRSP was compared to that of eight other areas in the Chihuahuan Desert, and was found to most closely resemble the mammalian fauna of Big Bend National Park. Species composition was determined for bats (Chiroptera) and rodents (Rodentia). Western pipistrelles (Pipistrellus hesperus), ghost-faced bats (Mormoops meqalophylla), and Brazilian free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis) were the three most abundant species of bats, and Chihuahuan Desert pocket mice (Chaetodipus eremicus), Merriam's kangaroo rats (Dipodomys merriami), and cactus mice (Peromyscus eremicus) were the most common rodents in the park. A dichotomous key to all species of mammals treated is included. Using a geographic information system (GIS), the distribution of each of the 59 species of native mammals at BBRSP was mapped. Various aspects of the natural history of these mammals are presented; they include habitat affinities, relative abundance, seasonal and daily activity, reproductive habits, feeding strategies, annual molt, and parasites and diseases. In addition, systematic problems were identified and acknowledged for several taxa. Two nondomestic introduced species, seven domestic species, 27 species of postulated occurrence, and two extirpated species are treated briefly. Finally, a list of recommendations for future research and management is presented.Item The intimate pulse of reality : sciences of description in fiction and philosophy, 1870-1920(2014-08) Brilmyer, Sarah Pearl; Cvetkovich, Ann, 1957-; Matysik, Tracie; Mackay, Carol H; Baker, Samuel; Wojciehowski, Hannah; Hoad, NevilleThis dissertation tracks a series of literary interventions into scientific debates of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, showing how the realist novel generated new techniques of description in response to pressing philosophical problems about agency, materiality, and embodiment. In close conversation with developments in the sciences, writers such as George Eliot, Thomas Hardy, and Olive Schreiner portrayed human agency as contiguous with rather than opposed to the pulsations of the physical world. The human, for these authors, was not a privileged or even an autonomous entity but a node in a web of interactive and co-constitutive materialities. Focused on works of English fiction published between 1870-1920, I argue that the historical convergence of a British materialist science and a vitalistic Continental natural philosophy led to the rise of a dynamic realism attentive to material forces productive of “character.” Through the literary figure of character and the novelistic practice of description, I show, turn-of-the-century realists explored what it meant to be an embodied subject, how qualities in organisms emerge and develop, and the relationship between nature and culture more broadly.Item Re-evaluation of museum voucher specimens in the modern biological research(Texas Tech University, 2003-12) Kageyama, MarikoThe previously published definitions of, and the philosophy behind, the voucher specimen are reviewed. The concept of a voucher specimen is re-evaluated in the modern biological research context, and a revised definition of a voucher is proposed. The "primary voucher" and "secondary voucher" are newly categorized within the comprehensive scheme of the voucher. The new definition and the introduction of primary and secondary vouchers enable us to accommodate a wider scope of museum resources of significant research value including those utilized for molecular studies in the framework of the voucher system. Alternatively, the essential roles of natural history museums in society as public voucher archives are evaluated. It is concluded that the shared acknowledgement of vouchers in society will make a substantial difference in our decision making and problem solving, particularly regarding the deposition of vouchers, their use, and their in perpetuity preservation.Item Standards for management of the recent mammal and bird collections at Texas Tech University(Texas Tech University, 2001-08) Halter, Amy S.Museums serve an important function in society. They have existed in one form or another since the Classical Age. In the modem sense a museum's primary function is education. This is accomplished through collection-based research and public exhibitions. A society that does not support museums finds itself with weakened historic, artistic, and scientific foundations. Biological, or systematics, collections serve as the foundation for much scientific research (Baker, 1994; Baker et al, 1998; Parker et al., 1998; WUson, 1992; Yates, 1987). Examples of research areas that rely on systematics collections include biodiversity, taxonomy, systematics, phylogenetics, morphometries, and ecology. Other disciplines that benefit from collections of specimens include genetic and molecular research, toxicology, biological informatics, epidemiology, and resource conservation. Systematics collections can be considered in the same light as research libraries. The specimens contain a wealth of information that is available to users of the collection. Scientists, using a variety of methods, can "read" this information from the specimens.