Life Sciences Commons^™

Stress Responses And Energy Storage In Drosophila Melanogaster Selected For Resistance To A Gram-Positive Bacillus Cereus Spores, Zhen Hu

School of Biological Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

A survival response study was carried out by using D. melanogaster and the opportunistic pathogen B. cereus as the agent of selection. The spores of B. cereus, a gram-positive bacteria that can cause the human pathogen disease, were applied in our artificial laboratory selection. Selected lines were treated with B. cereus spores. Wound control lines were punctured with a needle dipped into sterile H₂O. Control lines did not apply any treatment. Three different environmental treatments were used within each line type (autoclaved spores of B.cereus, sterile H₂O and no treatment). The autoclaved spores were …

Causes And Consequences Of Female Mate Choice In Drosophila Melanogaster: A Hemiclonal Analysis, Hannah Me Tennant

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

One of Darwin’s greatest questions, the reason why females prefer elaborate sexually selected male traits and displays, was elucidated by the Fisherian coevolution of male traits and female preferences. While variation in male attractiveness and ornamentation has received much attention, there has been little attempt to evaluate the causes and consequences of intraspecific variation in components of female preference. Furthermore, demonstrating a genetic basis to female preference does not answer the question of how within-population genetic variation is maintained.

Understanding the sources of variation in potential mating interactions between males and females is important because this variation determines the strength …