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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Connections In The Underworld: A Morphological And Molecular Study Of Diversity And Connectivity Among Anchialine Shrimp., Robert Eugene Ditter Nov 2020

Connections In The Underworld: A Morphological And Molecular Study Of Diversity And Connectivity Among Anchialine Shrimp., Robert Eugene Ditter

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research investigates the distribution and population structure of crustaceans, endemic to anchialine systems in the tropical western Atlantic focusing on cave-dwelling shrimp from the family Barbouriidae. Taxonomic and molecular tools (genetic and genomic) are utilized to examine population dynamics and the presence of phenotypic hypervariation (PhyV) of the critically endangered species Barbouria cubensis (von Martens, 1872). The presence of PhyV and its geographic distribution is investigated among anchialine populations of B. cubensis from 34 sites on Abaco, Eleuthera, and San Salvador, Bahamas. Examination of 54 informative morphological characters revealed PhyV present in nearly 90% (n=463) of specimens with no …


Systematic Studies In Myrtaceae Of The Greater And Lesser Antilles, Jonathan A. Flickinger Oct 2020

Systematic Studies In Myrtaceae Of The Greater And Lesser Antilles, Jonathan A. Flickinger

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Myrtaceae, or myrtle family, are a group of flowering trees and shrubs represented in the Americas by over 2000 species of the predominantly Neotropical tribe Myrteae. Recent progress on the challenging systematics of the group has been achieved through molecular phylogenetics, but few of the almost 500 species endemic to the islands of the Greater and Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean have been included in either phylogenetic or revisionary studies. The purpose of my dissertation is therefore to contribute to the description and phylogenetic classification of Antillean Myrtaceae. The first study describes Eugenia walkerae, a new species of …