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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Phylogenetic Relationships Among Fishes In The Order Zeiformes Based On Molecular Data From Three Mitochondrial Loci, Lindsay Scarpitta
Phylogenetic Relationships Among Fishes In The Order Zeiformes Based On Molecular Data From Three Mitochondrial Loci, Lindsay Scarpitta
Master's Theses
The Zeiformes (dories) are mid-water or deep (to 1000 m) marine acanthomorph fishes with a global, circumtropical, and circumtemperate distribution. Some species have a near-worldwide distribution, while others appear to be regional endemics, e.g., near New Zealand. Six families, 16 genera, and 33 species are currently recognized as valid. Relationships among them, however, remain unsettled, especially in light of recent proposals concerning the phylogenetic placement of zeiforms within the Paracanthopterygii rather than allied with beryciforms or percomorphs. The present study uses mtDNA characters to investigate zeiform interrelationships given their revised phylogenetic placement and attendant changes to their close outgroups, carried …
Evolution Of Life-History Characteristics In Gadoidei, Joshua Hittie
Evolution Of Life-History Characteristics In Gadoidei, Joshua Hittie
Master's Theses
Life-history characteristics (e.g., age and growth) have been used extensively to understand the temporal population dynamics of fish species, but less so within a phylogenetic framework. This study investigates life-history characteristics within the suborder Gadoidei (order: Gadiformes) and to test the extent of phylogenetic signal for those characteristics. To accomplish this, a phylogeny of Gadoidei was first constructed based on both mitochondrial and nuclear genes. Within this phylogenetic framework, life-history traits, including growth rate, age at maturity, and longevity, as well as ecological data, such as water depth and diet type, were mapped to the phylogeny using parsimony analysis to …
(Non)Parallel Developmental Mechanisms In Vertebrate Appendage Reduction And Loss, Samantha Swank, Thomas Sanger, Yoel E. Stuart
(Non)Parallel Developmental Mechanisms In Vertebrate Appendage Reduction And Loss, Samantha Swank, Thomas Sanger, Yoel E. Stuart
Biology: Faculty Publications and Other Works
Appendages have been reduced or lost hundreds of times during vertebrate evolution. This phenotypic convergence may be underlain by shared or different molecular mechanisms in distantly related vertebrate clades. To investigate, we reviewed the developmental and evolutionary literature of appendage reduction and loss in more than a dozen vertebrate genera from fish to mammals. We found that appendage reduction and loss was nearly always driven by modified gene expression as opposed to changes in coding sequences. Moreover, expression of the same genes was repeatedly modified across vertebrate taxa. However, the specific mechanisms by which expression was modified were rarely shared. …