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Evolution And Phylogeny Of Basal Winged Insects With Emphasis On Mayflies (Ephemeroptera), Thomas H. Ogden
Evolution And Phylogeny Of Basal Winged Insects With Emphasis On Mayflies (Ephemeroptera), Thomas H. Ogden
Theses and Dissertations
Ephemeroptera (mayflies) is a monophyletic group of semi-aquatic pterygote insects, comprising 3083 species, 376 genera, and 37 described families and are present on all continents, excluding Antarctica, being associated with freshwater and brackish water habitats. The order is unique among pterygote insects in possessing functional wings at the penultimate molt (subimago stage), prior to the full development of genitalia; in all other insects the presence of functional wings occurs only after the final molt. The purpose of this dissertation is to use molecular and morphological data, in order to investigate the position of the order Ephemeroptera among other insect orders, …
Prevalence Of Teleological And Lamarckian Misconceptions Of Natural Selection Among College Students, Bryce T. Battisti
Prevalence Of Teleological And Lamarckian Misconceptions Of Natural Selection Among College Students, Bryce T. Battisti
Theses and Dissertations
Science teachers and researchers note that students must correctly understand the role of natural selection in evolution to make sense of biology. The level of understanding of natural selection can be assessed using the Conceptual Inventory of Natural Selection (CINS) which is a 20-item multiple-choice test that incorporates student misconceptions as distractors. In the present study, Item Response Theory (IRT) was used to analyze the occurance of misconceptions on the CINS among 1192 students in an introductory non-majors biology course. The four most difficult topics in the CINS are: (a) how change occurs in a population; (b) origin of variation; …
The Status Of Leptodactylus Validus As A Single Taxon And Its Relationship To Letptodactylus Pallidirostris, Kenneth Christopher Yanek
The Status Of Leptodactylus Validus As A Single Taxon And Its Relationship To Letptodactylus Pallidirostris, Kenneth Christopher Yanek
Master's Theses
Leptodactylus validus exhibits an unusual distribution inhabiting Trinidad, Tobago, and the Lesser Antilles, but not the mainland of South America. This distribution is inconsistent with other distribution patterns observed for these islands. Although slight variation in adult morphology has been observed among the island populations, call data suggest the presence of a single species. Calls of Leptodactylus pallidirostris from Venezuela suggested that this taxon might be conspecific with L. validus. Herein sequence data from the 12S and 16S mt rRNA genes were collected and analyzed in order to address: 1.) whether more than one species is represented within L. validus, …