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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
The Evolution Of Kin Recognition, Timothy Ja Hain
The Evolution Of Kin Recognition, Timothy Ja Hain
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
The discovery that many animals are promiscuous has challenged the importance of Hamilton’s Rule because it reduces the net benefits of helping nestmates. To resolve this challenge, biologists have investigated animals’ abilities to determine degrees of relatedness among individuals using kin recognition mechanisms. I conducted a literature review and found that most animals use one of two mechanisms: “familiarity” whereby kin are remembered from interactions early in life, such as in a nest, or “phenotype matching” whereby putative kin are compared to a template of what kin should look, smell, or sound like based on relatives encountered during early life …
Hydrology-Biology Response Relationships In The Ozark Highlands, Dustin Thomas Lynch
Hydrology-Biology Response Relationships In The Ozark Highlands, Dustin Thomas Lynch
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
I examined flow-ecology relationships among stream communities in the Ozark Highlands, USA. I sampled fish, crayfish, and benthic macroinvertebrates during two consecutive summers, including a drought year (2012) and a flood year (2013). Biological response variables related to community structure were assessed via two different statistical methods: an Information Theoretic approach relating response variables to a priori selected predictor variables incorporating hydrology, habitat, geomorphology, and water quality, and canonical ordination using forward selection to relate these same response variables to a large assortment of hydrologic metrics. In addition to assessing metrics related to predicted natural flow, flow alteration at gaged …
Population Structure Of Central Stoneroller (Campostoma Anomalum) On The Ozark Plateau In Arkansas And Missouri, Mallory Jane Jeffers
Population Structure Of Central Stoneroller (Campostoma Anomalum) On The Ozark Plateau In Arkansas And Missouri, Mallory Jane Jeffers
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
Stream fishes on the Ozark Plateau have been influenced both by historic events (i.e. vicariance versus dispersal) and ecological forces (i.e. flow regime). To examine the role of these processes, genetic structure of Central Stoneroller (Campostoma anomalum), an ecologically important omnivorous minnow with a broad distribution and elevated abundance, was evaluated across populations in the White River drainage of the Ozark Plateau in Arkansas and Missouri. Fin clips of five to eight individuals were taken at each of 20 sites (N=138 individuals; average=6.9), selected so as to represent two different flow regimes: intermittently flashy (N=10 sites; N=73 individuals; average=7.3/ site) …
Parasite Infection Mediates Trait Tradeoffs In Fundulus Heteroclitus, Sarah Dunn
Parasite Infection Mediates Trait Tradeoffs In Fundulus Heteroclitus, Sarah Dunn
Honors College Theses
To be successful, an animal must eat, grow, and reproduce. With limited resources, there are tradeoffs between these critical life history parameters but the direction of the tradeoffs is largely unknown in a changing environment. To determine whether environmental context affects life-history tradeoffs, I surveyed and quantified investment into reproduction, growth, and a proxy for immunity (parasitism), in the mummichog, Fundulus heteroclitus, a common inhabitant of salt marshes in Georgia. Three salt marsh sites along coastal Georgia (Shellman Bluff, Skidaway Island, and Tybee Island) were selected using a proxy for anthropogenic disturbance (impervious surface), which also fell along a …
Tide-Dependent Predation Patterns Of Piscivorous Fishes In Shallow Estuarine Creeks, Matthew Ross Helms
Tide-Dependent Predation Patterns Of Piscivorous Fishes In Shallow Estuarine Creeks, Matthew Ross Helms
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The distribution and foraging behavior of predatory salt marsh fishes is shaped by the movements of prey, many of whom seek shelter in shallow and tributary creeks. I hypothesized that the distribution of piscivorous fishes in marsh creek channels would differ with proximity to the mouths of intertidal creeks and with tidal stage. Custom-built trotlines baited with live minnows were deployed during four discrete tidal stages at two microhabitats in main creek channels: (1) adjacent to intertidal creek mouths, and (2) along straight banks in North Inlet estuary, South Carolina. Catch-per-unit-effort of predatory fishes was significantly higher (Wilcoxon signed-rank tests, …