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Articles 1 - 18 of 18
Full-Text Articles in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
The Complexity Of Female Treefrog Mate Choice: Choosiness And Preferences Are Independent Behaviors And Each Are Prone To Separate Sources Of Variation, Olivia S. Feagles
The Complexity Of Female Treefrog Mate Choice: Choosiness And Preferences Are Independent Behaviors And Each Are Prone To Separate Sources Of Variation, Olivia S. Feagles
Theses and Dissertations
Mate choice is an important cause of natural and sexual selection, driving the evolution of ornaments and promoting diversification and speciation. Mate choice decisions arise from the interaction of several components, and knowledge of whether they interact, and how, is crucial for understanding their contributions to selection. There are multiple components of mate choice theoretically proposed, and here I focus specifically on preference functions (attractiveness ranking of prospective mates) and/or choosiness (willingness to invest effort in obtaining the preferred mate). Objective 1 (addressed in Chapter I) of this dissertation focuses specifically on the relationship between preferences and choosiness, testing the …
Cognitive And Web Phenotypes Of The Western Black Widow Spider, Clint Michael Sergi
Cognitive And Web Phenotypes Of The Western Black Widow Spider, Clint Michael Sergi
Theses and Dissertations
Animals with brains create mental representations of their environment and their own position within it, and use these representations to make decisions. The information used to create mental representations, and how animals use representations to make decisions, are functions of an animal’s evolution and ecology. Mental representations can be as simple as remembering the direction and distance home, or as detailed as a human’s mental map of their own home. I used behavior assays designed to reveal the contents of mental representations to investigate how a web spider creates representation of its environment and objects within it, and uses these …
Architecture Of Mate Choice Decisions In Enchenopa Treehoppers, Bretta Speck
Architecture Of Mate Choice Decisions In Enchenopa Treehoppers, Bretta Speck
Theses and Dissertations
Mate selection is one of the most important choices a female can make for herself and her offspring. Variation in mate choice decisions has consequences for the maintenance of and the diversity within a population and the promotion of divergence between populations. Mate choice decisions arise from the interaction of two main components: “mate preferences” (the relative attractiveness of a potential mate) and “choosiness” (the effort put into procuring a preferred mate). My dissertation analyzes the relationship between the components involved in female mate choice decisions in Enchenopa binotata treehoppers. I take a three-pronged approach. First, I investigated how E. …
Biological Indicators Of Toxic Stress In Wetland Sediments, Subhomita Ghosh Roy
Biological Indicators Of Toxic Stress In Wetland Sediments, Subhomita Ghosh Roy
Theses and Dissertations
Rapid population growth has created problems in meeting the goals of the Clean Water Act (CWA) “to restore and maintain the integrity of the nation’s waters”. Approaches for monitoring and analysis have increasingly focused on identifying “biological response signatures” that can characterize the complex patterns of ecological responses to stress occurring across levels of biological, spatial and temporal organization. One productive area of research has employed integrated indices of chemical risk, ecotoxicological risk and ecological risk to assess the impact of human activity across disturbance gradients such as urbanization. Selecting relevant metrics for use in constructing multimetric index requires identifying …
Seasonal Offshore/Inshore Migration Of Round Gobies, Erik Carlson
Seasonal Offshore/Inshore Migration Of Round Gobies, Erik Carlson
Theses and Dissertations
Since the invasion of round gobies (Neogobius melanostomus) in Lake Michigan, they have become integrated into both the nearshore and offshore food webs. Round gobies can be found in shallower water (<20 m) during the summer, but they disappear from these depths in early fall. They have been collected, occasionally, offshore in depths greater than 70 m during fall and early spring. These observations and other anecdotal evidence indicate that round goby migrate offshore during the fall and return in the spring. To study this, a large remotely operated vehicle (ROV) was used to conduct video transects offshore at various depths. The offshore sampling showed that round gobies migrated away from nearshore habitat in early October and were almost exclusively found deeper than 20 m by November. The round gobies remained offshore (>30 m) until mid-May, when they began the return to nearshore habitat. The cues to start the offshore and return migrations were not the focus of this project, but the fall offshore migrations coincided with decreasing temperatures nearshore in the fall, and in spring, the offshore movement of the thermal bar. The offshore migration in fall provide an increase in forage opportunity for deep, cold-water predators such as …
Unraveling Plague Ecology Through Vector And Host Genetics, Rachael Marie Giglio
Unraveling Plague Ecology Through Vector And Host Genetics, Rachael Marie Giglio
Theses and Dissertations
The transmission of vector-borne diseases involves complex interactions between vectors and their host species. These complex host-parasite interactions can be difficult to study with traditional, field-based methods. My dissertation aims to use a population genomics approach to elucidate transmission pathways of plague among prairie dog colonies. Plague is a flea-borne, zoonotic disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. It is infamous for causing the Black Death (1347-1353), one of the most devastating pandemics in human history. Since its emergence in North America around 1900, plague has spread to native rodents, thus creating a sylvatic cycle. Prairie dogs (Cynomys spp.) are …
Effects Of Life History And Brain Size On Cognition And Behavior: Studies On Prey-Searching In The Spider Pholcus Phalangioides, Joseph Kilmer
Effects Of Life History And Brain Size On Cognition And Behavior: Studies On Prey-Searching In The Spider Pholcus Phalangioides, Joseph Kilmer
Theses and Dissertations
There is tremendous diversity in body size across animals, including many examples of derived miniaturization. A reduction in body size is accompanied by a reduction in brain size, which is predicted to lead to limitations in cognition, but we have yet to find empirical evidence indicating what these limitations might be. I used a behavioral assay common in web spiders to explore this topic. I observed spiders as they searched for prey that they recently captured and lost. This assay has the advantage of being easily quantifiable while reflecting a spider’s evaluation and memory of lost prey. I conducted a …
Assessment And Mapping Of The Milwaukee Estuary Habitat, Brennan Dow
Assessment And Mapping Of The Milwaukee Estuary Habitat, Brennan Dow
Theses and Dissertations
Rivermouth regions such as the Milwaukee Harbor, are the habitat interface between watersheds and the Great Lakes proper, and can host a large diversity of fishes. To facilitate an ecosystem approach management strategy, I developed a layered map that includes bathymetry, side scan sonar images, shoreline substrate classifications, and initial data of aquatic vegetation and centrarchid spawning locations. The 60 km perimeter of the study area consisted of 59% hardened shoreline. Ground truthing of substrate classifications via Ponar grabs or video had about 95% accuracy for fine and rocky boulder substrates. Rocky fine was the most inaccurate classification (35%), but …
Influence Of Natural And Anthropogenic Light Levels On Female Preferences In Eastern Gray Treefrogs (Hyla Versicolor), Victoria Underhill
Influence Of Natural And Anthropogenic Light Levels On Female Preferences In Eastern Gray Treefrogs (Hyla Versicolor), Victoria Underhill
Theses and Dissertations
Chapter 1: While the influence of environmental variables, particularly temperature and rainfall, on the breeding behavior of amphibians is widely recognized, relatively few studies have addressed how the moon affects amphibian behavior. Yet, the lunar cycle provides several rhythmic temporal cues that animals could use to time important group events such as spawning, and the substantial changes in light levels associated with the different moon phases may also affect the behavior of nocturnal frogs. Using seven years of field observation data, we tested for lunar effects on the reproductive activity of male and female Eastern gray treefrogs (Hyla versicolor). We …
Assessment Of Benthic Habitat Quality In Lower Green Bay, Lake Michigan With Special Regard To Potential Hexagenia Recolonization, Christopher Michael Groff
Assessment Of Benthic Habitat Quality In Lower Green Bay, Lake Michigan With Special Regard To Potential Hexagenia Recolonization, Christopher Michael Groff
Theses and Dissertations
With environmental remediation in the Great Lakes, Hexagenia have recovered or are recovering in systems from which they were once extirpated. An active Hexagenia recovery does not appear to be taking place in lower Green Bay. This study first examines the highly fluidized nature of lower Green Bay sediment as a possible cause for their lack of recovery due to nymphs’ potential inability to construct and maintain burrows essential to the completion of their life cycles. Hexagenia bilineata nymphs collected from the Upper Mississippi River were distributed into oxygenated aquaria containing substrates from lower Green Bay or the Upper Mississippi …
Natural Selection By Insect Pollinators And Seed Predators On Floral Head Traits Of Helianthus Grosseserratus (Sawtooth Sunflower), Jason Stephen Servi
Natural Selection By Insect Pollinators And Seed Predators On Floral Head Traits Of Helianthus Grosseserratus (Sawtooth Sunflower), Jason Stephen Servi
Theses and Dissertations
Flowering plants must invest energy and resources to produce floral displays that are attractive to pollinators, but these same displays may also attract detrimental insects. How floral traits are shaped by the preferences of both pollinators and herbivores/seed predators is not fully understood. Using Helianthus grosseserratus (sawtooth sunflower) as my study species, I investigated these conflicting selective pressures on floral head traits through a 2-year study in a large, unbroken tract of mesic prairie in Wisconsin. In the first season, I followed individual heads over time and recorded insect visitation patterns and phenological changes to floral head traits. I also …
Blood Parasite Infection And Plumage Elaboration Of Migratory And Resident Populations Of The Common Yellowthroat, Rebecca Leigh Schneider
Blood Parasite Infection And Plumage Elaboration Of Migratory And Resident Populations Of The Common Yellowthroat, Rebecca Leigh Schneider
Theses and Dissertations
In birds, blood parasite diversity varies with latitude, seasonal changes, and habitat type. As a consequence, migratory populations of birds have greater exposure to parasites during their annual cycle than resident populations. Parasite infections may negatively affect the health of individuals which could, in turn, affect the development of elaborate plumage ornaments. We compared migratory (Wisconsin) and resident (Florida) populations of common yellowthroats (Geothlypis trichas) to test whether migratory birds in Wisconsin have more prevalent, intense and diverse infections of blood parasites and subsequently less elaborate ornamentation than their resident counterparts in Florida. As predicted, we found higher prevalence, intensity …
Are We Missing The Forest For The Trees? Quantifying The Maintenance Of Diversity In Temperate Deciduous Forests, Kathryn Barry
Are We Missing The Forest For The Trees? Quantifying The Maintenance Of Diversity In Temperate Deciduous Forests, Kathryn Barry
Theses and Dissertations
One of the most pressing questions of community ecology is: Why do we have so many species? Over 100 hypotheses have been proposed to answer this question for woody plants over the past 70 years, yet there remains no consensus among community ecologists. In this dissertation, I explore the evidence supporting several different hypotheses (Chapter 1). I provide evidence that negative density dependence, where individuals perform poorly near members of their own species, may only be relevant for canopy tree species (Chapter 2). Understory species do not demonstrate negative density dependence while canopy trees demonstrate negative density dependence that increases …
Consequences Of Loss Of An Abundant Pollinator: An Experimental Study, Allysa Hallett
Consequences Of Loss Of An Abundant Pollinator: An Experimental Study, Allysa Hallett
Theses and Dissertations
Pollinator populations are declining worldwide, and this may lower the quantity and quality of pollination services. Since pollinators often compete for floral resources, loss of an abundant pollinator species may release others from competition and potentially alter floral visitation rates. We explored how the removal of a frequent pollinator, bumble bees, influenced pollination success of whorled milkweed (Asclepias verticillata). In three small and three large populations we quantified pollinator visitation rates and pollination success for control plots and for plots where bumble bees were experimentally excluded. We found that exclusion of bumble bees did not reduce A. verticillata pollination success. …
Contribution Of Lianas To Plant Area Index And Canopy Structure In A Panamanian Forest, Maria Elizabeth Rodriguez-Ronderos
Contribution Of Lianas To Plant Area Index And Canopy Structure In A Panamanian Forest, Maria Elizabeth Rodriguez-Ronderos
Theses and Dissertations
Lianas are an important component of tropical forests, where they reduce tree growth, fecundity and survival. Competition for light among plants may be intense; however the amount of light that lianas intercept is poorly understood. We used a large-scale liana removal experiment to quantify light interception by lianas in a Panamanian secondary forest. We measured the change in plant area index (PAI) and forest structure six weeks after cutting lianas in eight 80x80 m plots and in eight control plots, and then annually for four years. We used ground-based LiDAR to measure the 3-dimensional canopy structure before cutting lianas and …
A Tale Of Two Morphs: Genetic And Genotypic Structure Between Macrocystis Pyrifera And Macrocystis Integrifolia, Heidi Hargarten
A Tale Of Two Morphs: Genetic And Genotypic Structure Between Macrocystis Pyrifera And Macrocystis Integrifolia, Heidi Hargarten
Theses and Dissertations
Organisms living along environmental gradients often utilize phenotypic plasticity to maximize their survival across a range of conditions. Wherever gradients occur, there is potential for divergence through isolation-by-adaptation (IBA) to build-up between genotypes experiencing different selective pressures. Plasticity in traits pertaining to mating systems in particular are likely to constitute an interesting and revealing model for the study of the underlying mechanisms behind parapatric speciation. Giant kelp, Macrocystis spp., shows striking plasticity in holdfast morphology and reproductive strategy when colonizing intertidal (M. integrifolia morph) versus subtidal (M. pyrifera morph) areas along temperate rocky coastlines of the eastern Pacific Ocean. In …
Lake Michigan Hydrodynamics: Mysis And Larval Fish Interactions, Yutta Wang
Lake Michigan Hydrodynamics: Mysis And Larval Fish Interactions, Yutta Wang
Theses and Dissertations
I studied the interactions between Lake Michigan hydrodynamics (the spring thermal bar) and Mysis, deepwater sculpin, and burbot larvae. The thermal bar is a zone of sinking 4º С water that separates warmer inshore water from colder offshore water. Mysis was a major bycatch of sampling for larval fishes. The density of Mysis did not differ statistically between inshore (about 6º С) and offshore of the thermal bar, but the percentage of Mysis that were newborns was significantly higher inshore (P = 0.007). These "early start" coastal Mysis may have an advantage in growth and survival, but with the risk …
Seasonality Of Conceptions Under Varying Conditions In A Rhesus Macaque Breeding Colony, Ryan Disney Patrick Dunk
Seasonality Of Conceptions Under Varying Conditions In A Rhesus Macaque Breeding Colony, Ryan Disney Patrick Dunk
Theses and Dissertations
Rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) are well documented as seasonal breeders. Despite this, little is known about what factors influence seasonal reproduction in rhesus. It has been proposed that rhesus are "relaxed income breeders" (Brockman and van Schaik, 2005), which means they respond to changes in photoperiod but endogenous cues can allow deviations from photoperiod-timed seasonality. This study presents the results of a natural experiment on the influence of different housing conditions (featuring different levels of environmental exposure) on the seasonal pattern of reproduction in rhesus. Once the number of attempts was controlled for, rhesus did not exhibit a seasonal distribution …