Identification of microsatellites, or simple sequence repeats (SSRs), can be a time-consuming and costly investment requiring enrichment, cloning, and sequencing of candidate loci. Recently, however, high throughput sequencing (with or without prior enrichment for specific SSR loci) has been utilized to identify SSR loci. The direct “Seq-to-SSR” approach has an advantage over enrichment-based strategies in that it does not require a priori selection of particular motifs, or prior knowledge of genomic SSR content. It has been more expensive per SSR locus recovered, however, particularly for genomes with few SSR loci, such as bird genomes. The longer but relatively more expensive 454 reads have been preferred over less expensive Illumina reads. Here, we use Illumina paired-end sequence data to identify potentially amplifiable SSR loci (PALs) from a snake (the Burmese python, Python molurus bivittatus), and directly compare these results to those from 454 data. We also compare the python results to results from Illumina sequencing of two bird genomes (Gunnison Sage-grouse, Centrocercus minimus, and Clark's Nutcracker, Nucifraga columbiana), which have considerably fewer SSRs than the python. We show that direct Illumina Seq-to-SSR can identify and characterize thousands of potentially amplifiable SSR loci for as little as $10 per sample – a fraction of the cost of 454 sequencing. Given that Illumina Seq-to-SSR is effective, inexpensive, and reliable even for species such as birds that have few SSR loci, it seems that there are now few situations for which prior hybridization is justifiable.

The International Crocodilian Genomes Working Group (ICGWG) will sequence and assemble the American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis), saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) and Indian gharial (Gavialis gangeticus) genomes. The status of these projects and our planned analyses are described.

Fish populations are globally threatened by overharvesting and habitat degradation. The ability to bank fish embryos by cryopreservation could be cru

We investigated individual, nightly, and seasonal variation in calling behavior of a population of gray tree frogs (Hyla versicolor) from Connecticut, USA. Repeated recordings of individual males on seven nights revealed significant differences among males in calling rate on all but one night and differences in number of pulses per call and number of pulses produced per hour (pulse effort) on four nights. Most males reduced calling activity late at night (after 2230 h), but some maintained a relatively steady rate of call production before dropping out of the chorus. Data collected for 26 individuals recorded on three or more nights throughout the breeding season revealed significant differences among males in calling rate, number of pulses per call, and pulse effort, but repeatabilities for all three variables were low (0.17, 0.35, and 0.12, respectively). The highest repeatability was for number of pulses per call, a variable strongly influenced by proximity to calling neighbors, probably because males often interacted with neighbors at similar distances on several successive nights. Males tended to reduce the number of pulses per call as the season progressed and the distance between neighbors decreased, but they showed no clear seasonal change in calling rate or pulse effort. There was a substantial seasonal decline in the number of hours of chorus activity, resulting in a median decrease of 43% in nightly energy expenditure by calling males.