Life Sciences Commons^™

Ecological And Oceanographic Influences On Leatherback Turtle Behavior And Scyphozoan Jellyfish Distributions In The Gulf Of Mexico, Katrina Aleksa

Dissertations

Leatherback turtles (Dermochelys coriacea) are a wide-ranging, oceanic species that feed exclusively on gelatinous zooplankton. Leatherback have been spotted in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) for several decades and consistently had a high level of interactions with longline fisheries. However, no quantitative studies have been performed to address the spatiotemporal distribution of these turtles in the GoM. This research determines 1) leatherback movements and high-use areas in the GoM, 2) their association with oceanographic features, 3) the distribution and density of two abundant medusae in the northern GoM and any association with biophysical parameters, and 4) the body …

The Evolution Of Fear Ecology: A Fruit Fly (Drosophila Melanogaster) Perspective, Itachi Mills

Theses

Several mechanisms underlie how evolutionary lineages respond to predation pressures or predation risk. Further mechanisms link evolutionary predation responses to how animals forage, or find mates. However, gaps remain in our understanding about how predation and foraging interact in an evolutionary context.

In my first chapter, I elaborate on how predation and foraging relate in to one another in ecological, evolutionary and behavioral contexts. I start out with an overview of fear ecology. Then, I outline how trade-offs influence the evolution of morphological, chemical and behavioral responses to predation. I further elaborate on how these trade-offs influence reproduction. Finally, I …

Behavioral Plasticity Across Non-Social Contexts In Female Green Swordtails, Xiphophorus Hellerii, Lindsey M. Coit

School of Biological Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Phenotypic plasticity is the ability of an individual to alter its phenotype in response to environmental change. Individuals that express plasticity in behavior can quickly respond to changes that occur in the environment. Therefore, individuals that exhibit behavioral plasticity can alter their behavioral expression to best match current environmental conditions. The degree and direction of behavioral plasticity may be influenced by variation in individual characteristics. Understanding how variation in individual traits affects behavioral plasticity, and, whether patterns of behavioral plasticity are consistent across behavioral contexts are important topics to explore as we try to better understand how plasticity evolves and …

The Influence Of Aspen Chemistry And The Nutritional Context On Aspen Herbivory, Kristen Y. Heroy

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Consumption of aspen by herbivores is one major force causing aspen decline in North America. In this Dissertation, I aimed to determine why herbivores prefer browsing on certain aspen stands over others, and why they prefer consuming aspen that contains chemical defenses over understory forages like grasses, forbs, and shrubs. I explored the influence of nutrients and chemical defenses within aspen on aspen intake and preference by lambs in pen experiments. I also explored drivers of aspen preference on the landscape by looking at relationships between aspen herbivory, indicators of aspen health, amount of nutrients available in the understory, and …