Life Sciences Commons^™

Local Adaptation In Mainland Anole Lizards: Integrating Population History And Genome–Environment Associations, Ivan Prates, Anna Penna, Miguel Trefaut Rodrigues, Ana Carolina Carnaval

Publications and Research

Environmental gradients constrain physiological performance and thus species’ ranges, suggesting that species occurrence in diverse environments may be associated with local adaptation. Genome–environment association analyses (GEAA) have become central for studies of local adaptation, yet they are sensitive to the spatial orientation of historical range expansions relative to landscape gradients. To test whether potentially adaptive genotypes occur in varied climates in wide‐ranged species, we implemented GEAA on the basis of genomewide data from the anole lizards Anolis ortonii and Anolis punctatus, which expanded from Amazonia, presently dominated by warm and wet settings, into the cooler and less rainy Atlantic …

The Transcriptome Of The Bermuda Fireworm Odontosyllis Enopla (Annelida: Syllidae): A Unique Luciferase Gene Family And Putative Epitoky-Related Genes, Mercer R. Brugler, M. Teresa Aguado, Michael Tessler, Mark Siddall

Publications and Research

The Bermuda fireworm Odontosyllis enopla exhibits an extremely tight circalunar circadian behavior that results in an impressive bioluminescent mating swarm, thought to be due to a conventional luciferase-mediated oxidation of a light-emitting luciferin. In addition, the four eyes become hypertrophied and heavily pigmented, and the nephridial system is modified to store and release gametes and associated secretions. In an effort to elucidate transcripts related to bioluminescence, circadian or circalunar periodicity, as well as epitoky-related changes of the eyes and nephridial system, we examined the transcriptomic profile of three female O. enopladuring a bioluminescent swarm in Ferry Reach, Bermuda. …

Zero Textbook Cost Syllabus For Env 1004 (Fundamentals Of Ecology-Lecture And Lab), Brian Haggerty

Open Educational Resources

In this class you will learn basic concepts and tools used in ecological research through hands-on activities, complementing and expanding materials from ENV 1003. Field trips to local ecosystems and educational sites are required.

Zero Textbook Cost Syllabus For Env 1004 (Fundamentals Of Ecology-Lab), Rebecca Kulp

Open Educational Resources

This course introduces students to basic concepts and tools used in ecological research through hands-on activities, complementing and expanding materials from ENV 1003. Field trips to educational sites are required.

Zero Textbook Cost Syllabus For Env 1004 (Fundamentals Of Ecology-Lab), Jennifer Zhu

Open Educational Resources

Fundamentals of Ecological Research is a hands-on course designed to teach students the basic concepts and methodologies used in the field of ecology. The significance of ecological research to current environmental issues, both local and global, will be stressed throughout the course.

By the end of this course, you should be able discuss the complex linkages among biotic and abiotic factors that impact natural communities, explain how these factors may be measured, and predict impacts of change.

Zero Textbook Cost Syllabus For Env 1004 (Fundamentals Of Ecology-Lab), Sarah Bengston

Open Educational Resources

This course introduces students to basic concepts and tools used in ecological research through hands-on activities, complementing and expanding materials from ENV 1003. Field trips to local ecosystems and educational sites are required.

Zero Textbook Cost Syllabus For Env 1003 (Fundamentals Of Ecology-Lecture), Mukesh Gautam

Open Educational Resources

Fundamentals of Ecology explores ecological characteristics and ecosystem processes through an evolutionary context. The course will demonstrate the interdisciplinary nature of the field of ecology by highlighting its significance to current environmental issues and the interconnectedness of the environment around us.

Zero Textbook Cost Syllabus For Env 1004 (Fundamentals Of Ecology-Lab), Kuhuk Sharma

Open Educational Resources

Fundamentals of Ecological Research is a hands-on course designed to teach students the basic concepts and methodologies used in the field of ecology. The significance of ecological research to current environmental issues, both local and global, will be stressed throughout the course.

Zero Textbook Cost Syllabus For Env 1004 (Fundamentals Of Ecology-Lab And Recitation), Naoko Kurata

Open Educational Resources

Fundamentals of Ecological Research is a hands-on course designed to teach students the basic concepts and methodologies used in the field of ecology. The significance of ecological research to current environmental issues, both local and global, will be stressed throughout the course. Field trips to local ecosystems and educational sites are required.

Zero Textbook Cost Syllabus For Env 1004 (Fundamentals Of Ecology-Lecture And Lab), Stephen Gosnell

Open Educational Resources

Fundamentals of Ecological Research is a hands-on course designed to teach students the basic concepts and methodologies used in the field of ecology. The significance of ecological research to current environmental issues, both local and global, will be stressed throughout the course.

Zero Textbook Cost Syllabus For Env 1004 (Fundamentals Of Ecology-Lab), Sara Rose Krivoshik

Open Educational Resources

Fundamentals of Ecological Research is a hands-on course designed to teach students the basic concepts and methodologies used in the field of ecology. The significance of ecological research to current environmental issues, both local and global, will be stressed throughout the course.

Zero Textbook Cost Syllabus For Env 1003 (Fundamentals Of Ecology-Lecture), Kuhuk Sharma

Open Educational Resources

Fundamentals of Ecology explores ecological characteristics and ecosystem processes through an evolutionary context. The course will demonstrate the interdisciplinary nature of the field of ecology by highlighting its significance to current environmental issues and the interconnectedness of the environment around us.

Zero Textbook Cost Syllabus For Env 1004 (Fundamentals Of Ecology-Lab), Mukesh Gautam

Open Educational Resources

Fundamentals of Ecological Research is a hands-on course designed to teach students the basic concepts and methodologies used in the field of ecology. The significance of ecological research to current environmental issues, both local and global, will be stressed throughout the course.

Forest Drought Resistance Distinguished By Canopy Height, Wei Fang, Peipei Xu, Tao Zhou, George Hendrey, Xiang Zhao

Publications and Research

How are the survival and growth of trees under severe drought affected by their size? While some studies have shown that large trees are more vulnerable to drought than smaller trees, others found that small trees are the more vulnerable. We explored the potential relationships between canopy height and forest responses to drought indicated by tree mortality, tree ring width index (RWI), and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) in the southwestern United States (SWUS) in 2002. In that year many trees had zero tree ring growth due to mortality and dieback, presumably related to drought-stress. With RWI data from a …

Anchored Phylogenomics Illuminates The Skipper Butterfly Tree Of Life, Emmanuel F. A. Toussaint, Jesse W. Breinholt, Chandra Earl, Andrew D. Warren, Andrew V. Z. Brower, Masaya Yago, Kelly M. Dexter, Marianne Espeland, Naomi E. Pierce, David J. Lohman, Akito Y. Kawahara

Publications and Research

Background: Butterflies (Papilionoidea) are perhaps the most charismatic insect lineage, yet phylogenetic relationships among them remain incompletely studied and controversial. This is especially true for skippers (Hesperiidae), one of the most species-rich and poorly studied butterfly families.

Methods: To infer a robust phylogenomic hypothesis for Hesperiidae, we sequenced nearly 400 loci using Anchored Hybrid Enrichment and sampled all tribes and more than 120 genera of skippers. Molecular datasets were analyzed using maximum-likelihood, parsimony and coalescent multi-species phylogenetic methods.

Results: All analyses converged on a novel, robust phylogenetic hypothesis for skippers. Different optimality criteria and methodologies recovered almost …

Dynamic Responses Of Tree-Ring Growth To Multiple Dimensions Of Drought, Wei Fang, Shan Gao, Ruishun Liu, Tao Zhou, Chuixiang Yi, Ruijie Liu, Xiang Zhao, Hui Luo

Publications and Research

Droughts, which are characterized by multiple dimensions including frequency, duration, severity and onset timing, can impact tree growth profoundly. Different dimensions of drought influence tree growth independently or jointly, which makes the development of accurate predictions a formidable challenge. Measurement-based tree-ring data have obvious advantages for studying the drought responses of trees. Here, we explored the use of abundant tree-ring records for quantifying regional response patterns to key dimensions of drought. Specifically, we designed a series of regional-scaled “natural experiments”, based on 357 tree-ring chronologies from Southwest USA and location-matched monthly water balance anomalies, to reveal how tree-ring growth responds …

Zero Textbook Cost Syllabus For Env 1004 (Fundamentals Of Ecology-Lab And Recitation), Wendy Castillo

Open Educational Resources

Fundamentals of Ecological Research is a hands-on course designed to teach students the basic concepts and methodologies used in the field of ecology. The significance of ecological research to current environmental issues, both local and global, will be stressed throughout the course.

Zero Textbook Cost Syllabus For Env 1004 (Fundamentals Of Ecology-Lab), Aleksandra Kravtsova

Open Educational Resources

Fundamentals of Ecological Research is a hands-on course designed to teach students the basic concepts and methodologies used in the field of ecology. The significance of ecological research to current environmental issues, both local and global, will be stressed throughout the course.

Bifurcated Response Of A Regional Forest To Drought, Wei Fang, Chuixiang Yi, Guangwei Mu, George Hendrey, Sergio M. Vicente-Serrano, Tao Zhou, Shan Gao, Peipei Xu

Publications and Research

Several lines of evidence suggest that forest growth in many regions is declining as a consequence of changing climate. To predict the fate of forests in the future, a quantitative understanding of how the key climate variables (insolation, precipitation and temperature) interact with forests to cause the decline is a pressing need. Here we use a regionally-averaged tree-ring width index (RWIr ) to quantify forest growth in the Southwest United States (SWUS). We show that over a period of 100 years, SWUS RWIr bifurcated into forest stands with enhanced (healthy) and reduced (declining) branches when regressed on shortwave-radiation and temperature, …

Hip Extensor Mechanics And The Evolution Of Walking And Climbing Capabilities In Humans, Apes, And Fossil Hominins, Elaine E. Kozma, Nicole M. Webb, William Harcourt-Smith, David A. Raichlen, Kristiaan D’Août, Mary H. Brown, Emma M. Finestone, Stephen R. Ross, Peter Aerts, Herman Pontzer

Publications and Research

The evolutionary emergence of humans’ remarkably economical walking gait remains a focus of research and debate, but experi- mentally validated approaches linking locomotor capability to postcranial anatomy are limited. In this study, we integrated 3D morphometrics of hominoid pelvic shape with experimental mea- surements of hip kinematics and kinetics during walking and climbing, hamstring activity, and passive range of hip extension in humans, apes, and other primates to assess arboreal–terrestrial trade-offs in ischium morphology among living taxa. We show that hamstring-powered hip extension during habitual walking and climbing in living apes and humans is strongly predicted, and likely constrained, by …

Zero Textbook Cost Syllabus For Env 3009/Bio 4009 (Conservation Biology And Sustainable Development), Natalia Borrego

Open Educational Resources

Conservation biology is an interdisciplinary topic that explores how we can protect and maintain natural areas. Due to the resources we take and impacts we have on natural environments, this field is directly related to restoration ecology (restoring natural areas) and sustainable development/natural resource management. We will explore the basis for these related fields from an ecological, social, legal, and cultural perspective, as all conservation and management projects take place in the larger human landscape. We will consider how we measure biodiversity, why it matters, why is it is threatened, and how we can manage (protect, restore, maintain, use) it …

Zero Textbook Cost Syllabus For Env 1003 (Fundamentals Of Ecology-Lecture And Recitation), Rebecca Kulp

Open Educational Resources

This course introduces students not only to ecological terms and concepts but demonstrates how the scientific process adds new knowledge to the field. Through recitation, you will be able to explore the many platforms science gets communicated to the community, and decide for yourself whether you trust how the information is being presented.

A Description Of Nesting Behaviors, Including Factors Impacting Nest Site Selection, In Black‐And‐White Ruffed Lemurs (Varecia Variegata), Andrea L. Baden

Publications and Research

Nest site selection is at once fundamental to reproduction and a poorly understood component of many organisms’ reproductive investment. This study investigates the nesting behaviors of black-and-white ruffed lemurs, Varecia variegata, a litter-bearing primate from the southeastern rainforests of Madagascar. Using a combination of behavioral, geospatial, and demographic data, I test the hypotheses that environmental and social cues influence nest site selection and that these decisions ultimately impact maternal reproductive success. Gestating females built multiple large nests throughout their territories. Of these, females used only a fraction of the originally constructed nests, as well as several parking locations as infants …