From Sept. 16 to Sept. 23, a Twin Otter airplane crossed lower Manhattan with an airborne visible-infrared imaging spectrometer, Aviris, that divines the composition of materials a mile or more below by the way they reflect or absorb sunlight.
Invertebrate sub-sampling techniques reflected patterns of consumption by humans or otters: For snails, the entire body and shell was homogenized and tested whole, while the soft parts of bivalves and crabs were removed and the shells and carapace were discarded.
By contrast, four of the six individual genes trees (GHR, MT-CYB, MT-TP (tRNA-Pro), and MT-TT (tRNA-Thr)) cluster Pteronura brasiliensis with non-otters, a result that is also reflected in the supermatrix analysis of the sequence data (see below).
While remote sites were dominated by petrogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), small harbour sites within sea otter habitat and sites from an urban reference area reflected weathered petroleum and biomass and fossil fuel combustion.
The giant otter is an apex predator, and its population status reflects the overall health of riverine ecosystems.
I didn't catch any the next day, either, though I had compensations: scarlet-and-blue macaws, otters diving, pink dolphins playing near our boat, their strange bulbous heads reflecting the Amazon's ethereal light.
Otters Are you an otter spotter?
