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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

The Distribution Of Fox Squirrel (Sciurus Niger) Leaf Nests Within Forest Fragments In Central Indiana, Carmen M. Salsbury, Rebecca W. Dolan, Emily B. Pentzer Apr 2004

The Distribution Of Fox Squirrel (Sciurus Niger) Leaf Nests Within Forest Fragments In Central Indiana, Carmen M. Salsbury, Rebecca W. Dolan, Emily B. Pentzer

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

We examined the abundance and placement of leaf nests by fox squirrels in six urban woodlots in central Indiana ranging in size from 1.06 to 8.28 ha. Four of the woodlots were disturbed, or subject to extensive human impact, whereas the remaining two were nature preserves. We counted all leaf nests present in each woodlot and recorded nest tree characteristics. We then conducted a quantitative vegetation analysis of trees present and estimated percentages of herbaceous and shrub cover along a minimum of two 100 m transects at each site. Fox squirrels showed a preference to build nests in certain species …


Population Genetic Structure In Nolina Brittoniana (Agavaceae), A Plant Endemic To The Central Ridges Of Florida, Rebecca W. Dolan, Rebecca Yahr, Eric S. Menges Jan 2004

Population Genetic Structure In Nolina Brittoniana (Agavaceae), A Plant Endemic To The Central Ridges Of Florida, Rebecca W. Dolan, Rebecca Yahr, Eric S. Menges

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Nolina brittoniana is endemic to the central ridges of peninsular Florida. Its scrub and sandhill habitats have suffered extensive anthropogenic modification. Analysis of isozymes from populations throughout its range revealed less genetic variation than generally reported for endemic plants. Populations were well differentiated, with significant clines in allele frequency along the north-south axis of distribution. Pair-wise F-statistics calculated at four levels of population geographic substructure revealed that current and inferred historical habitat patches had similar genetic structure. We found no evidence of recent bottlenecks or changes in genetic structure due to habitat loss and fragmentation, consistent with populations having always …


Hatching Asynchrony, Survival, And The Fitness Of Alternative Adult Morphs In Ambystoma Talpoideum, Travis J. Ryan Jan 2004

Hatching Asynchrony, Survival, And The Fitness Of Alternative Adult Morphs In Ambystoma Talpoideum, Travis J. Ryan

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

The mole salamander, Ambystoma talpoideum, exhibits both aquatic (gilled) and terrestrial (metamorphosed) adult morphologies. Previous studies have shown the existence of body-size advantages associated with the terrestrial morph in A. talpoideum and other polymorphic salamanders (e.g., A. tigrinum). However, aquatic adult A. talpoideum mature at a younger age and often breed earlier than terrestrial adults. We tested the hypothesis that early maturation and reproduction in aquatic adults increase fitness (irrespective of body size). We reared larval A. talpoideum in mesocosms and varied the timing of hatching, with early-hatching larvae representing the offspring from early-breeding aquatic adults, and late-hatching larvae representing …