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Articles 1 - 17 of 17
Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Systematics And Biogeography Of The Cortinarius Violaceus Group And Sequestrate Evolution In Cortinarius (Agaricales), Emma Harrower
Systematics And Biogeography Of The Cortinarius Violaceus Group And Sequestrate Evolution In Cortinarius (Agaricales), Emma Harrower
Doctoral Dissertations
Phylogenetics is a powerful tool used for illuminating the diversity of life on Earth, their evolution and their ecology. I created a multi-gene phylogenetic tree of Cortinarius section Cortinarius and uncovered five previously overlooked species, increasing the number of species in the section from seven to twelve. All members of the clade possess both cheilocystidia and pleurocystidia and possess a pigment known as (R)-39,49-dihydroxybphenylalanine. Ancestral state reconstruction estimated that the ancestral host was most likely an angiosperm, switching hosts when encountering novel host species in new lands, and only C. violaceus associating with the Pinaceae in North America. Biogeographic analysis …
Reef Fish Assemblage Biogeography Along The Florida Reef Tract, Cory Ames
Reef Fish Assemblage Biogeography Along The Florida Reef Tract, Cory Ames
HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations
Understanding the biogeography of reef fish assemblages is paramount to reef conservation, management, and conducting appropriate population survey designs. Reef fish assemblages are a multispecies complex of reef-associated fish and are shaped by multiple environmental and biological factors (e.g. temperature, depth, benthic habitat, and topographic relief), which determine the species constituents residing in an area. Assemblages typically change with latitude where the number of families, genera, and/or densities of species specific to warmer climates decrease poleward into colder climate regimes. The Florida Reef Tract (FRT) extends for 595 km from the Dry Tortugas in the south-west to Martin County in …
Tracing The Genetic Footprints Of The Redbelly Yellowtail Fusilier, Caesio Cuning, Across Multiple Spatial And Evolutionary Scales, Amanda Susanne Ackiss
Tracing The Genetic Footprints Of The Redbelly Yellowtail Fusilier, Caesio Cuning, Across Multiple Spatial And Evolutionary Scales, Amanda Susanne Ackiss
Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations
Overfishing is one of the most pervasive threats to coral reef ecosystems, and management of these multi-species resources is hampered by limited species-specific population level information. The reefs in the western tropical Pacific Ocean, including the Coral Triangle, are the most bio-diverse in the world. Home to more than 400 million people, this region contains some of the most threatened coral reef ecosystems. Presented here is the first comprehensive analysis of the genetic structure of Caesio cuning, planktivorous fish inhabiting reefs in the Coral Triangle and western Pacific Ocean. Data from both classical Sanger and next-generation sequencing were analyzed …
Beringian Biogeography: Patterns Of Intercontinental Dispersal And The Structuring Of A Holarctic Tapeworm Genus, Genevieve M. Haas
Beringian Biogeography: Patterns Of Intercontinental Dispersal And The Structuring Of A Holarctic Tapeworm Genus, Genevieve M. Haas
All NMU Master's Theses
The opening and closing of the Bering Land Bridge due to Pleistocene climate fluctuations facilitated the exchange of taxa between the Palearctic and Nearctic. While many studies have worked toward elucidating the role of Beringia in assembling northern faunas, relatively little work has focused on parasites. Here I examine the number and direction of transberingian colonization events within the Holarctic tapeworm genus, Arostrilepis Mas-Coma & Tenora, 1997. I performed maximum likelihood and multi-locus coalescent phylogenetic reconstructions using mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences. Biogeographic ancestral range estimations were conducted on the resulting species phylogeny. My systematic reconstructions reveal as many as …
Fleas Of The American Pika: Diversity And Biogeography In North America’S Intermountain West, Niyomi Wijewardena
Fleas Of The American Pika: Diversity And Biogeography In North America’S Intermountain West, Niyomi Wijewardena
All NMU Master's Theses
American pikas (Ochotona princeps) are small mammals that are widely distributed across North America’s Intermountain West. Previous investigations revealed five geographically distinct mitochondrial lineages within O. princeps associated with different mountain systems of the Intermountain West. In contrast, diversity of endoparasitic helminths of pikas is not structured geographically in the same way. Instead, there are two primary parasite assemblages, one distributed across southwestern pika populations and one found across the northeastern part of the host range. These contrasting patterns suggest that the shared history of pikas and their parasites had different consequences for the evolutionary trajectories of these …
The Effects Of Anthropogenic Stress On Nitrogen-Cycling Microbial Communities In Temperate And Tropical Soils, George S. Hamaoui Jr.
The Effects Of Anthropogenic Stress On Nitrogen-Cycling Microbial Communities In Temperate And Tropical Soils, George S. Hamaoui Jr.
Doctoral Dissertations
In this dissertation several research studies are discussed that characterize the effects of anthropogenic, or human-induced, stress on both ammonia-oxidizing and total bacterial soil microbial communities. The disturbances of land-use change in tropical, South American rainforests and artificial warming and nitrogen (N) fertilization in temperate, North American forests were investigated as these disturbances represent past and current disturbances caused by human landscape alteration and climate change. Initially, the response of soil ammonia-oxidizing microbial communities to land-use change from primary rainforest to pasture and, finally, back to secondary forest was determined. Next, these analyses of land-use change effects were expanded to …
Exploring The Biogeography Of South American Rainforest Understory Birds Using Morphological Variation In The Wedge-Billed Woodcreeper ( Glyphorynchus Spirurus ), Gregory Tito
Theses and Dissertations
Tropical rainforests in the Amazon Basin show an extraordinarily high degree of biodiversity, the reasons for which are poorly understood. A number of biogeographical models have been proposed to account for the variation present within and among species, including birds. This study tests the predictive ability of six major historical vicariant biogeographical models (Andean uplift, marine incursion, Amazonian lake, river barrier, refuge, and river refuge) using a large data set of morphological characters in the Wedge-billed Woodcreeper (Glyphorynchus spirurus), a small understory songbird found mostly in terra firme tropical rain forest. It also characterizes variation in key morphological characters and …
Larval Rockfish Diversity Abundance Dynamics In Association With A Marine Protected Area In The Southern California Bight, Dustin Chen
Theses
Marine protected areas (MPAs) are areas aimed at protecting natural and cultural resources that are often proposed as a way to alleviate the effects of overfishing on populations of targeted species; these areas have varying degrees of fishing and recreational use restrictions. In order to assess MPA efficacy, it is important to determine the mechanisms by which the presence of MPAs affect reproductive output within and potentially even beyond their boundaries. I attempted to address this through studying the responses of rockfish (Sebastes spp.) larval abundances to the presence of the Cowcod Conservation Areas (CCAs) located within the Southern California …
Systematics, Diversification, And Functional Diversity Of Russulaceae (Russulales), Brian Patrick Looney
Systematics, Diversification, And Functional Diversity Of Russulaceae (Russulales), Brian Patrick Looney
Doctoral Dissertations
The family Russulaceae is an iconic family of mushroom-forming Basidiomycetes both because of their importance as edible mushrooms in many parts of the world and their species richness in both temperate and tropical forested biomes. While much mycological research has been focused on this group, recent systematic and ecological research has failed to develop a comprehensive or cohesive organization by which to understand the evolutionary relationships, patterns of diversification, or functional importance of the group. Recently, interest in ectomycorrhizal fungi (EmF), of which Russulaceae is a key lineage, has greatly increased due to the recognition of the importance of EmF …
The Effects Of Environmental Variability And Latitude On Breeding Behaviors And Life History Traits Of Aves In North America, Elizabeth E. Tharman
The Effects Of Environmental Variability And Latitude On Breeding Behaviors And Life History Traits Of Aves In North America, Elizabeth E. Tharman
Master's Theses
Breeding systems among Aves have garnered attention in the last several decades as many species considered monogamous have been found to exhibit an alternative breeding system such as polygyny, polyandry, cooperative breeding, or colonial nesting. My thesis focuses on assessing the correlations between type of breeding system and resource availability by using environmental variables as proxy variables. It also assess the correlations between life history trait variables and environmental variables. Both breeding system and life history traits are analyzed at the species and population levels while controlling for phylogenetic relationships and geographic location when appropriate. Breeding system among species was …
Where The Wild Things Are: Investigating Body Size As A Mechanism For Persistence, Meghan A. Balk
Where The Wild Things Are: Investigating Body Size As A Mechanism For Persistence, Meghan A. Balk
Biology ETDs
Body size is a trait under selection. Genetic drift, climate, diet quality, and biotic interactions all select upon body size at the population, species, and community levels. These factors can be important in the context of rapidly changing climate. One of the ways an animal can persist in its environment is through morphological adaptation in situ. Here, I investigate four questions relating to the evolution of body size: (1) what is the limit in body size change in response to climatic change; (2) how does body size influence the thermal tolerances of animals; (3) how does body size evolve …
Phylogenetics, Biogeography, And Patterns Of Diversification Of Geckosacross The Sunda Shelf With An Emphasis On The Genuscnemaspis (Strauch, 1887), Perry Lee Wood
Theses and Dissertations
In my dissertation I investigate two genera of geckos (Cyrtodactylus and Cnemaspis) that are distributed across Southeast Asia with an emphasis on Cnemaspis. In Chapter 1 I use a multilocus dataset, ancestral area analyses, and molecular clock dating to generate a species level time calibrated phylogeny to test the monophyly of Cyrtodactylus and to identify major biogeographical patterns. I identified that Cyrtodactylus is monophyletic only if the the Sri Lankan genus often recognized as Geckoella is included. The results of the Biogeographical analyses reveal a west to east pattern of diversification. Chapter 2 I use a traditional morphological dataset to …
Phylogenetics, Biogeography, And Patterns Of Diversification Of Geckosacross The Sunda Shelf With An Emphasis On The Genuscnemaspis (Strauch, 1887), Perry Lee Wood
Theses and Dissertations
In my dissertation I investigate two genera of geckos (Cyrtodactylus and Cnemaspis) that are distributed across Southeast Asia with an emphasis on Cnemaspis. In Chapter 1 I use a multilocus dataset, ancestral area analyses, and molecular clock dating to generate a species level time calibrated phylogeny to test the monophyly of Cyrtodactylus and to identify major biogeographical patterns. I identified that Cyrtodactylus is monophyletic only if the the Sri Lankan genus often recognized as Geckoella is included. The results of the Biogeographical analyses reveal a west to east pattern of diversification. Chapter 2 I use a traditional morphological dataset to …
Comparative Biogeography Of North American Pika Parasites: Unraveling A History Driven By Climate Change, Heather M. Toman
Comparative Biogeography Of North American Pika Parasites: Unraveling A History Driven By Climate Change, Heather M. Toman
All NMU Master's Theses
Parasites are an understudied group that can provide important information on ecosystem dynamics and climate change as well as host biogeographic history. I performed a comparative biogeographic study on two endoparasitic helminth lineages associated with pikas (Ochotona) -the tapeworm genus Schizorchis and the pinworm subgenus Labiostomum (Eugenuris). Colonization history across Beringia was assessed using analyses of historical range estimation and tests for simultaneous divergence. Analysis results allow me reject the hypothesis that these parasites colonized the Nearctic during a single glacial cycle, as evidenced by multiple Nearctic and Palearctic lineage pairs that did not diverge simultaneously. This …
Niche Conservatism Or Divergence: Insights Into The Evolutionary Histories Of Pinus Taeda, Pinus Rigida, And Pinus Pungens, Constance E. Bolte
Niche Conservatism Or Divergence: Insights Into The Evolutionary Histories Of Pinus Taeda, Pinus Rigida, And Pinus Pungens, Constance E. Bolte
Theses and Dissertations
Environmentally related selective pressures and community interactions are well-documented drivers for niche differentiation, as natural selection acts on adaptive traits best fit for survival. Here, we investigated niche evolution between and within Pinus taeda, Pinus rigida, and Pinus pungens and sought to identify which climate variables contributed to species divergence. We also sought to describe niche differentiation across genetic groupings previously identified for P. taeda and P. rigida. Ecological niche models were produced using Maximum Entropy followed by statistical testing based on a measure of niche overlap, Schoener’s D. Both niche conservatism and niche divergence were …
Comparative Floristic Studies Of Georgian Sandhill Ecosystems Reveals A Dynamic Composition Of Endemics And Generalists, James M. Long, John Schenk
Comparative Floristic Studies Of Georgian Sandhill Ecosystems Reveals A Dynamic Composition Of Endemics And Generalists, James M. Long, John Schenk
Honors College Theses
Sandhill habitats are characterized by sandy, xeric soils that contain a unique assemblage of plants and animals. Similar to the broader long-leaf pine (Pinus palustris) and wire grass (Aristida stricta) ecosystem that sandhills are a subset of, agriculture, development, and habitat modifications have caused sandhill ecosystems to become degraded, putting many species at risk of extinction. Previous studies have focused on diversity within individual sandhills, leaving us with an incomplete understanding of how these communities form, what species are endemic, whether endemics are widespread across sandhills, and how species have adapted to these communities. To gain a more comprehensive understanding …
Diversity And Evolution Of Fruits In Cuscuta (Dodders; Convolvulaceae), Anna Ho
Diversity And Evolution Of Fruits In Cuscuta (Dodders; Convolvulaceae), Anna Ho
Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)
Cuscuta (dodder) is a genus of roughly 200 species of obligate stem parasites with sub-cosmopolitan distribution. The fruit, generally regarded as a capsule, has a thin pericarp containing one to four seeds and opening at the base (circumscissile dehiscence; DE), or remaining closed (indehiscent; IN). IN has evolved multiple times in Cuscuta from DE, and is most common in the North American clades of subgenus Grammica. In addition, some species produce fruits that open irregularly. Characteristics pertaining to the fruits of Cuscuta are important as their seeds contribute most to their distribution and prevalence across the globe, and their reduced …