Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Discipline
- Publication Type
Articles 1 - 12 of 12
Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
A Comprehensive Phylogeny Of Stick And Leaf Insects (Insecta: Phasmatodea) Reveals Widespread Taxonomic Incongruence, Jackson B. Linde
A Comprehensive Phylogeny Of Stick And Leaf Insects (Insecta: Phasmatodea) Reveals Widespread Taxonomic Incongruence, Jackson B. Linde
Theses and Dissertations
Stick and leaf insects (Insecta: Phasmatodea) are a mesodiverse order of insects distributed across the world. These masters of masquerade crypsis are riddled with analogous morphological characters and lack a robust taxonomic framework. It seems that convergent evolution and the re-evolution of complex traits like wings and ocelli is perhaps the rule rather than the exception in stick insects. To investigate the re-acquisition of traits in this unique study system, a robust phylogenetic framework is essential. Our analyses combine traditional Sanger data with a transcriptomic backbone to provide the most corroborated phylogenetic analyses to date. To accomplish this, we employ …
Local Adaptation Of Blue Penstemon: Molecular And Morphological Characterizations Of A Potential Restoration Species For The Northern Basin And Range And Snake River Plain, Jason Mark Stettler
Local Adaptation Of Blue Penstemon: Molecular And Morphological Characterizations Of A Potential Restoration Species For The Northern Basin And Range And Snake River Plain, Jason Mark Stettler
Theses and Dissertations
Penstemon is one of North America's largest endemic genera with over 280 described species. These species are distributed throughout most of North America from the Arctic northern latitudes to tropics of Central America. The genus has historically been divided into six subgenera, but has recently been reorganized into two subgenera following some recent phylogenetic studies. I made a comprehensive assessment of the Penstemon genus' geographic distribution utilizing herbaria databases by ecoregion to discuss the general ecologic adaptations of each historic subgenera. I also assessed the Penstemon genus' bee pollinator diversity utilizing online databases of bee specimen collections associated with Penstemon …
Resolving Relationships And Revealing Hybridization In Aliciella Subsection Subnuda (Polemoniaceae), Theresa Conley Saunders
Resolving Relationships And Revealing Hybridization In Aliciella Subsection Subnuda (Polemoniaceae), Theresa Conley Saunders
Theses and Dissertations
Phylogenetics is crucial in the study of evolutionary processes and the determination of appropriate conservation units, and often these efforts are complicated by hybridization and introgression. Aliciella subsection Subnuda consists of seven species of herbaceous plants occurring in Utah and the Four Corners region of North America. Previous molecular and morphological work left relationships in the subsection unresolved. Here, we use comparative DNA sequencing of ITS and cpDNA regions and RAD-seq data to clarify phylogenetic relationships and examine the role of hybridization in the subsection. We construct haplotype and nucleotype networks from the cpDNA and ITS sequence matrices and compare …
Molecular Studies Of South American Teiid Lizards (Teiidae: Squamata) From Deep Time To Shallow Divergences, Derek B. Tucker
Molecular Studies Of South American Teiid Lizards (Teiidae: Squamata) From Deep Time To Shallow Divergences, Derek B. Tucker
Theses and Dissertations
I focus on phylogenetic relationships of teiid lizards beginning with generic and species relationship within the family, followed by a detailed biogeographical examination of the Caribbean genus Pholidoscelis, and end by studying species boundaries and phylogeographic patterns of the widespread Giant Ameiva Ameiva ameiva. Genomic data (488,656 bp of aligned nuclear DNA) recovered a well-supported phylogeny for Teiidae, showing monophyly for 18 genera including those recently described using morphology and smaller molecular datasets. All three methods of phylogenetic estimation (two species tree, one concatenation) recovered identical topologies except for some relationships within the subfamily Tupinambinae (i.e. position of …
Ecology, Phylogenetics, And Conservation Of Draba Asterophora Complex: A Rare, Alpine, Endemic From Lake Tahoe, Usa, Emily Ruth Smith Putnam
Ecology, Phylogenetics, And Conservation Of Draba Asterophora Complex: A Rare, Alpine, Endemic From Lake Tahoe, Usa, Emily Ruth Smith Putnam
Theses and Dissertations
Rare, alpine, endemic species are particularly at risk for extinction. Alpine environments are especially vulnerable to climate change and human impacts, such as ski resort development and snowmaking. Draba asterophora Payson is a rare, alpine species that occurs only in three disjunct mountain-top regions surrounding Lake Tahoe. It is currently threatened by human impacts, such as ski resorts, as well as indirect influences of climate change and therefore in need of better understanding for conservation purposes. Draba asterophora may be able to serve as a case study for other similarly vulnerable, rare, alpine, endemic species with conservation needs. We utilized …
Testing Crayfish Evolutionary Hypotheses With Phylogenetic Methods, Jesse W. Breinholt
Testing Crayfish Evolutionary Hypotheses With Phylogenetic Methods, Jesse W. Breinholt
Theses and Dissertations
This dissertation focuses on increasing the understanding of the evolution processes that have contributed to the diversification of freshwater crayfish. Chapter one estimates the divergence time of the three crayfish families and tests the hypothesis that diversification is tied to the break-up of Pangaea, Gondwanna, and Laurasia. I find that the families of crayfish diverged prior to or in association with the break-up of the three super continents. Chapter two addresses the evolutionary history of the genus Cambarus, using molecular data to test hypotheses of relationships based on chela and carapace morphology. The results provide evidence that the morphology used …
Molecular Systematics Of Spiny Pocket Mice (Subfamily Heteromyinae) Inferred From Mitochondrial And Nuclear Sequence Data, Melina Crystal Williamson
Molecular Systematics Of Spiny Pocket Mice (Subfamily Heteromyinae) Inferred From Mitochondrial And Nuclear Sequence Data, Melina Crystal Williamson
Theses and Dissertations
This study aims to determine species-level relationships within the genus Heteromys, as well as generic-level relationships among members of the subfamily Heteromyinae using a phylogenetic framework. Molecular sequence data were generated from two mitochondrial genes (cytochrome b and cytochrome oxidase I) and three nuclear gene segments (β-fibrinogen, engrailed protein II, and myosin heavy chain II), and analyzed under maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian optimality criteria to infer relationships. Chapter 1 focuses on the phylogenetic and taxonomic implications for Heteromys from the analyses of sequence data. Phylogenies also provided a framework for delimiting species boundaries within the wide-ranging Heteromys desmarestianus …
Domain Duplication, Darwinian Selection, And The Origin Of The Globulin Seed Storage Proteins, Nathaniel S. Cannon
Domain Duplication, Darwinian Selection, And The Origin Of The Globulin Seed Storage Proteins, Nathaniel S. Cannon
Theses and Dissertations
The seed storage globulins found among virtually all spermatophytes comprise a multi-gene family of proteins with ancient evolutionary origins. The two main groups of storage globulins include the legumins (11S) and vicilins (7S), both of which play a main role in protein deposition and storage in the seed endosperm. Composed of two cupin domains (bicupin), these proteins have been recently noted not only for their close structural relationships among the two subfamilies (7S and 11S) but also for their similarity to other proteins such as germin-like proteins (GLP's), bacterial oxalate decarboxylases, and other cupin containing proteins. Previous studies have investigated …
Evolution In Neotropical Herpetofauna: Species Boundaries In High Andean Frogs And Evolutionary Genetics In The Lava Lizard Genus Microlophus (Squamata: Tropiduridae): A History Of Colonization And Dispersal, Edgar Benavides
Theses and Dissertations
In this collection of papers I have summarized my investigations into the field of evolutionary genetics and more specifically into patterns of biodiversity and evolutionary processes. The lizards (and frogs) studied here share common features in that they are largely present in unique environments, which are also regions that are biologically understudied. Most of these taxa show high degrees of endemism, interesting natural history characteristics, and each group manifests distinctive adaptations of general evolutionary interest. My work in the genus Telmatobius has been a progressive approach that began in my MS program, and it first focused on alpha taxonomy, morphological …
A Phylogeny Of Belonolaimus Populations In Florida Inferred From Dna Sequences, Byron J. Adams, U. Gozel, K. B. Nguyen, R. N. Inserra, R. M. Giblin-Davis
A Phylogeny Of Belonolaimus Populations In Florida Inferred From Dna Sequences, Byron J. Adams, U. Gozel, K. B. Nguyen, R. N. Inserra, R. M. Giblin-Davis
Faculty Publications
The D2-D3 and ITS regions of rDNA from 33 Florida populations of Belonolaimus spp. were sequenced and subjected to phylogenetic analysis. Our objective was to derive a theoretical evolutionary framework for interpreting phenotypic differences as they relate to the taxonomy of the genus. The most striking aspect of the phylogenetic analysis is that none of the three nominal species (B. longicaudatus, B. euthychilus, and B. gracilis) are monophyletic. Additionally, two taxa appear to have discordant ITS and LSU sequences. Three major clades of B. longicaudatus exhibited discernible, overlapping, geographic foci from east to west across the peninsula. Morphological character states …
Phylogenetics Of North American Psoraleeae (Leguminosae): Rates And Dates In A Recent, Rapid Radiation, Ashley N. Egan
Phylogenetics Of North American Psoraleeae (Leguminosae): Rates And Dates In A Recent, Rapid Radiation, Ashley N. Egan
Theses and Dissertations
The scientific discipline of phylogenetics involves understanding the diversity of life in the context of history. Technological advances in molecular biology and computational power have created an exponential increase in the number and kind of phylogenetic studies, allowing exploration of all manner of questions concerning the evolutionary history of a group. This dissertation research is focused on phylogenetic theory and applying these methods to the plant tribe Psoraleeae (Leguminosae; Fabaceae) with an emphasis on North American (NAm) members. First, theory of phylogeny estimation is explored in a review chapter focusing on strengths and weaknesses of phylogenetic methodology. Second, methods are …
Phylogeny And Biogeography Of Ice Crawlers (Insecta: Grylloblattodea): Evidence From Six Molecular Loci, Karl J. Jarvis
Phylogeny And Biogeography Of Ice Crawlers (Insecta: Grylloblattodea): Evidence From Six Molecular Loci, Karl J. Jarvis
Theses and Dissertations
Ice crawlers (Insecta: Grylloblattodea) are rarely encountered insects that consist of five genera representing 26 species from North America and Asia. Asian grylloblattids are the most diverse, but North American ice crawlers (genus Grylloblatta) are known for their adaptation to cold conditions. Phylogenetic relationships among grylloblattid species and genera are not known. Late Pleistocene glaciations had a major effect on the current Grylloblatta distribution, because their specific habitat requirements restrict them to small geographical areas. Six genes were sampled in 37 individuals for 18S rRNA, 28S rRNA, histone 3, 12S rRNA, 16S rRNA, and cytochrome oxidase II (COII) from 27 …