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Vertebrata

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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Linking Direct And Indirect Data On Dispersal: Isolation By Slope In A Headwater Stream Salamander, Winsor H. Lowe, Gene E. Likens, Mark A. Mcpeek, Don C. Buso Feb 2006

Linking Direct And Indirect Data On Dispersal: Isolation By Slope In A Headwater Stream Salamander, Winsor H. Lowe, Gene E. Likens, Mark A. Mcpeek, Don C. Buso

Dartmouth Scholarship

There is growing recognition of the need to incorporate information on movement behavior in landscape-scale studies of dispersal. One way to do this is by using indirect indices of dispersal (e.g., genetic differentiation) to test predictions derived from direct data on movement behavior. Mark–recapture studies documented upstream-biased movement in the salamander Gyrinophilus porphyriticus (Plethodontidae). Based on this information, we hypothesized that gene flow in G. porphyriticus is affected by the slope of the stream. Specifically, because the energy required for upstream dispersal is positively related to slope, we predicted gene flow to be negatively related to change in elevation between …


The Consequences Of Changing The Top Predator In A Food Web: A Comparative Experimental Approach, Mark A. Mcpeek Feb 1998

The Consequences Of Changing The Top Predator In A Food Web: A Comparative Experimental Approach, Mark A. Mcpeek

Dartmouth Scholarship

Changing the top predator in a food web often results in dramatic changes in species composition at lower trophic levels; many species are extirpated and replaced by new species in the presence of the new top predator. These shifts in species composition also often result in substantial alterations in the strengths of species interactions. However, some species appear to be little affected by these changes that cause species turnover at other positions in the food web. An example of such a difference in species responses is apparent in the distributions of coenagrionid damselflies (Odonata: Zygoptera) among permanent water bodies with …


Behavioral Feeding Specialization In Pinaroloxias Inornata, The “Darwin's Finch” Of Cocos Island, Costa Rica, Tracey K. Werner, Thomas W. Sherry Apr 1987

Behavioral Feeding Specialization In Pinaroloxias Inornata, The “Darwin's Finch” Of Cocos Island, Costa Rica, Tracey K. Werner, Thomas W. Sherry

Dartmouth Scholarship

As a population, Cocos Finches exhibit a broad range of feeding behaviors spanning those of several families of birds on the mainland, while individuals feed as specialists year-round. Although this extreme intraspecific variability occurs as predicted in a tropical oceanic island environment, these specializations challenge contemporary ecological theory in that they are not attributable to individual differences in age, sex, gross morphology, or opportunistic exploitation of patchy resources. Instead, they appear to originate and be maintained behaviorally, possibly via observational learning. This phenomenon adds another direction to the evolutionary radiation of the Darwin's Finches and underscores the necessity for detailed …