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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Burrowing And Walking Mechanisms Of North American Moles, Yi-Fen Lin
Burrowing And Walking Mechanisms Of North American Moles, Yi-Fen Lin
Doctoral Dissertations
Moles (Family Talpidae) are a classic example of extreme specialization, in their case highly derived forelimb morphologies associated with burrowing. Despite many observations of mole burrows and behaviors gathered in the field, we know very little about how and how well moles use their forelimbs to dig tunnels and to walk within the built tunnels to collect and transport food. The first chapter investigates the effect of soil compactness on two sympatric mole species under controlled laboratory conditions. My results demonstrate that increasing soil compactness impedes tunneling performance as evidenced by reduced burrowing speed, increased soil transport, shorter tunnels, shorter …
Performance And Signaling In The Green Anole Lizard, Justin P. Henningsen
Performance And Signaling In The Green Anole Lizard, Justin P. Henningsen
Open Access Dissertations
Green anoles are small lizards of the Southeastern United States. They possess an extensible throat-fan called a dewlap. Males have larger dewlaps and display them more often than females. Displays occur during courtship, during agonistic interaction, and during encounters with potential predators. The size of the dewlap of male green anoles is positively correlated with maximum bite force capacity. Bite force capacity, in turn, is predictive of the winner during agonistic interactions. The correlation between these traits suggests that dewlap size may be used as a reliable signal of maximum bite force capacity. In this dissertation, I address three components …