User:Julisymmons/sandbox

Week 2 Possible problematic areas of Endostyle:

• Link to the Ogasawara piece takes only to The Biological Bulletin page, not to the article directly.
• The references aren't specific to any mentioned facts, but rather are just added to the end of the whole entry.
• After having looked up the Ogasawara article, the abstract states "It may have arisen in the common ancestor of these taxa, along with a shift to internal feeding for extracting suspended food from the water" and the wikipedia article states "it is presumed to have arisen in the common ancestor of these taxa, along with a shift to internal feeding for extracting suspended food from the water." word for word plagiarism from the first few lines of the abstract.
• Article lacks a lot of detail and could use a lot more explanation.

Week 4 Dissection Project Preferences

1. Microbat: This is my number-one pick because I find bats the evolution of the bat skeleton fascinating, especially concerning the flexibility and organization of the bat wing bones, and I would love to get the opportunity to learn more about the internal structure of this animal, as well as challenge myself with the small body size. Possible pages to edit: microbat (the page itself lacks a lot of anatomical information and would be a good option for editing, and it is a start page with mid-impotance), tragus
2. Iguana: I have never had the opportunity to dissect a lizard, and as the owner of several pet reptiles, I would love to get to know better the internal anatomy of the iguana. Possible pages to edit: iguana (it is a start page of high-importance, however it does have a bit more anatomical information than some others), dewlap, hemipenis
3. Pigeon: I've always really liked pigeons, and I think it would be a fun opportunity to dissect one. Possible pages to edit: columbidae (though the article itself has a lot more information than some of the other options, it still lacks a section about anatomy), keel (bird anatomy), sclerotic ring

Week 5 Microbat Project Source Suggestions

• First I would like to familiarize myself with the general anatomy and morphology of bats and basic evolutionary information; Bats: From Evolution to Conservation
• PATAGIUM page: The article for the patagium has almost not information about the bat patagium specifically, so I am considering covering the following topics under the bat section of the patagium article page.
• Shape and structure of the bat wing: this would include giving a general overview of the basic structures of the bat patagium. The page already includes the four main regions of the patagium, but I would like to include more information to contextualize the skin of the wing with the whole body. This could include a diagram or description of the bones and muscles associated with the control of the wing. Sources- Bats: From Evolution to Conservation again. Also, chapter two of Bats (Chiroptera) as Vectors of Diseases and Parasites entitled "Bats: A Glimpse on Their Astonishing Morphology and Lifestyle"
• Physiology of skin of the bat wing: The patagium page mentions only that the structure is composed of skin, and does not include anything specific about the skin in this region. Sources- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2375846/ Although I will mostly be using this source (The Structural Design of the Bat wing web and its Possible Role in Gas Exchange) for the topic of gas exchange, it also includes a very detailed description of the make-up of the skin of the bat wing. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-7998.1996.tb05455.x/full This (Mechanical properties of bat wing membrane skin) is an incredibly detailed source on this topic.
• Role in aerodynamics of flying: The only aspect the patagium page covers even remotely is the very basic anatomical regions of the wing and that it is sed for flying; it does not include any more detail about how it is involved in the flying process, or how the structure lends to this process. Sources- https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00418147 and http://jeb.biologists.org/content/218/5/653 Both of these sources describe the morphology of the the bat wing as it relates to the aerodynamics of flight in mammals (Bat wing structures important for aerodynamics and rigidity and Bat flight: aerodynamics, kinematics and flight morphology
• Role in gas exchange: This topic may not be necessary in light of all the other information I have to choose from to add, but I thought the bat skin in relation to gas exchange across the thin membrane was very interesting. Source: Again, The Structural Design of the Bat wing web and its Possible Role in Gas Exchange.

Week 6 Drafted Changes

Things to discuss

Based on a response from another user on the talk page of the patagium article, I think I need to change directions a little bit in order to prevent the information on the patagium article from becoming too unbalanced. Because of this, we (Neha especially because we may need to be more particular about where our topics overlap) should talk more about to approach my topics of choice. As of right now, I am thinking about adding some of my information to the patagium page directly, while also adding to the anatomy/wing section of the bat page, as well as considering putting another subheading specifically for patagium (similar to what was suggested on the patagium talk page comment- you guys should go read it if you get a chance).

Patagium section within the bat page anatomy section

The bat patagium is the skin membrane of the bat wing. It covers and is strengthened by the bat's four long, thin hand bones, though the thumb is free-moving. The patagium is stretched between the arm and hand bones, down the lateral side of the body and down to the hind limbs. This skin membrane consists of connective tissue, elastic filaments, nerves, muscles and vessels. The muscles keep the membrane taut during flight. The skin on the body of the bat, which has one layer of each the epidermis and dermis, as well as the presence of hair follicles and sweat glands and a fatty subcutaneous layer, is very different from the skin of the wing membrane. The patagium skin has is comprised of an extremely thin double layer of epidermis, these layers separated by a connective tissue center rich with collagen and elastic fibers. The membrane skin also does not have any hair follicles of sweat glands. Due to this estremely thin membranous tissue, and that a bat's wing is about 85% of its total skin surface are, a bat's wing can significantly provide to its total gas exchange.

Additions to the bat section of the Patagium article page

• Uropatagium (tail membrane): this is the region of the patagium which supports the greatest load at failure. This increased load bearing ability is thought to relate to its predatory function of catching prey, namely insects.
• Plagiopatagium (between lateral body and skeleton of hand): this is the weakest region of the patagium, and is highly extensible, which promotes the arching of the center of the wing, important for lift.

Aerodynamics

The next thing I will talk about is the shape of the patagium in relation to the aerodynamics of flying. While I do have a couple extremely helpful journal articles on the topic, they are very complex and I need to spend a lot more time with them in order to understand the math and physics in relation to anatomy enough to summarize it in the way that it needs to be presented on a forum like wikipedia. This will definitely be my next step in this process.

Moving forward

Another thing that I plan to do before moving forward with this draft is do some more research about the different patagium sections and their particular makeup, because the references that I have compiled to this point are rather lacking in this area, as is the patagium page itself, outside of just the straight definition.

Editing Draft 2

(Synthesis of Neha's section and mine: going to split our information into 3 sections, skin physiology/general wing skin makeup, gas exchange, thermoregulation. I also am adding another section, aerodynamics.)

Skin- The bat patagium is the skin membrane of the bat wing. It covers and is strengthened by the bat's four long, thin hand bones, though the thumb is free-moving. The patagium is stretched between the arm and hand bones, down the lateral side of the body and down to the hind limbs.^[10] This skin membrane consists of connective tissue, elastic filaments, nerves, muscles and vessels. The muscles keep the membrane taut during flight. The skin on the body of the bat, which has one layer of each the epidermis and dermis, as well as the presence of hair follicles and sweat glands and a fatty subcutaneous layer, is very different from the skin of the wing membrane. The patagium skin is comprised of an extremely thin double layer of epidermis, these layers are separated by a connective tissue center, rich with collagen and elastic fibers. The membrane skin also does not have any hair follicles of sweat glands.^[11] 

Gas exchange- Due to this extremely thin membranous tissue, a bat's wing can significantly contribute to the organism's total gas exchange efficiency.^[11] Because of the high energy demand of flight, the bat body meets those demands by gas exchange through the skin in the wing. When the bat has its wing in an open spread out position it allows for an increase in surface area to volume ratio. The increase in surface area in the wings allows for about 85% gas exchange of the total body surface area^[18]. The subcutaneous vessels in the skin membrane allow for a greater surface area for the diffusion of oxygen and carbon dioxide. There is also a series of bundles of collagen fibrils, elastic fibers and fibroblasts organized into a network that lies in the wing of the bat^[19].

Thermoregulation (needs more editing)- The structure of lungs in bats are similar to that of mammals for blood flow exchange. The bat wings are important in thermoregulation during flight. More than 80% of the energy consumed during flight generates heat as a by- product , and thus it is expected that bat wings should dissipate large amounts of heat to prevent hyperthermia^[20].