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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Play Behavior And The Development Of Boldness And Caution In Juvenile Belding’S Ground Squirrels (Urocitellus Beldingi), Madelene Shehan
Play Behavior And The Development Of Boldness And Caution In Juvenile Belding’S Ground Squirrels (Urocitellus Beldingi), Madelene Shehan
Master's Theses
The ubiquity of play among juvenile mammals suggests it provides adaptive benefits, potentially through influences on the development of temperament in young animals. Juvenile Belding’s ground squirrels (Urocitellus beldingi) must balance competing demands for boldness and caution imposed by the fundamental trade-off between their short active season and their vulnerability to predation. In this study, I evaluated whether play helps to facilitate the development of an appropriate balance between boldness and caution in juvenile U. beldingi.I observed the play behavior of juvenile U. beldingiand conducted flight-initiation distance tests to measure boldness-caution at the beginning and toward …
Frogs Hiding In Plain Sight: Phylogenetic Systematics Of Myanmar’S Occidozyga Species Complex, And The Identification Of A Novel Species, Allison Bogisich
Frogs Hiding In Plain Sight: Phylogenetic Systematics Of Myanmar’S Occidozyga Species Complex, And The Identification Of A Novel Species, Allison Bogisich
Master's Theses
Different species can be difficult to distinguish from one another when they are morphologically similar. Such cryptic species are the reason many anuran species go undetected. For this study, the taxonomic identity of the Occidozyga complex across Myanmar was investigated. An integrated approach was used combining molecular, morphological and phylogeographic data to better assess its taxonomy. Results indicate the presence of three new candidate species within Occidozyga, and three evolutionarily significant unit (ESU) lineages. Two mitochondrial gene fragments (16S, COI) and one nuclear gene fragment (Rhodopsin) were examined from DNA isolated from forty-seven preserved specimens from the California Academy …
Examining Genetic And Ecological Differentiation Of An Endemic Plant Species Found Across The Hawaiian Archipelago, Psychotria Mariniana, Tiffany L. Kho
Examining Genetic And Ecological Differentiation Of An Endemic Plant Species Found Across The Hawaiian Archipelago, Psychotria Mariniana, Tiffany L. Kho
Master's Theses
Speciation is a fundamental evolutionary process that remains poorly understood. Speciation ultimately begins with population divergence, so we can elucidate the complexities of speciation by first understanding the process and drivers of population divergence. To conduct population-level analyses, ecologists and evolutionary biologists have turned to island systems, primarily for their geographic orientation and high endemism. The Hawaiian archipelago is home to over 8,700 endemic species making it a great natural laboratory to study species diversification at the population level. The Hawaiian Psychotria (kōpiko, or wild coffee) make up 11 of these species and have been used to understand colonization and …
See The Forest For The Leaves: Foliar Fungal Community Composition And Volatile Organic Compound Production, Joshua Copeland
See The Forest For The Leaves: Foliar Fungal Community Composition And Volatile Organic Compound Production, Joshua Copeland
Master's Theses
Endophytes are microbes that live within plants without causing detectable illness. These microorganisms can emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs), airborne signaling molecules that can significantly affect plant growth. Despite the prevalence of endophytes and their VOCs, little is known about these factors important to plant health. With this in mind I isolated fungal endophytes from leaves of Populus trichocarpa and Populus fremontii, tree species with economic and environmental uses, to determine if endophyte communities are reserved between the closely related tree species and over seasons. Surface sterilized leaf fragments were plated onto malt extract agar and the resulting fungi were …