Life Sciences Commons^™

Metapopulation Genomics Of American Goshawks In The Intermountain West, Megan M. Sidran

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Understanding a species dispersal ecology and population dynamics is essential to effectively manage and conserve a species. As advancing technology improves our knowledge of species movements, it is becoming clear that many species form metapopulations to some extent. A metapopulation is a network of interconnected subpopulations that exchange reproductive individuals with subpopulations occupying nearby patches. Metapopulations have been observed in a variety of species, ranging from plants to vertebrates, and can vary greatly in their dynamics (level of connectivity and gene flow) based on the species behavior and life history strategy.

Forming a metapopulation can add much resilience to the …

Quantifying The Predictability Of Evolution At The Genomic Level In Lycaeides Butterflies, Samridhi Chaturvedi

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Stephen Jay Gould, a great scientist and evolutionary biologists, suggested that if we could replay the tape of life, we would not have observed similar course of events because evolution is stochastic and if affected by several events. Since then, the possibility that evolution is repeatable or predictable has been debated. Studies using large-scale evolution experiments, long-term data for individual populations, and controlled experiments in nature, have demonstrated phenotypic and genetic convergence in several taxa. These studies suggest that despite some randomness, predictable evolutionary patterns can emerge on a large temporal and spatial scale. However, a few cases also exist …