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Articles 1 - 11 of 11
Full-Text Articles in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Towards Understanding The Interactions Between Ospreys And Human-Made Structures In The Tennessee River Valley, Natasha Karina Murphy
Towards Understanding The Interactions Between Ospreys And Human-Made Structures In The Tennessee River Valley, Natasha Karina Murphy
Theses and Dissertations
Raptor nests on human-built structures represent a significant source of conflict as they can result in bird mortality, fires, structure damage, service distribution, or power outages when falling nest materials or animals connect with energized conductors. Power companies, such as the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), wish to mitigate these conflicts to avoid service disruptions. In this dissertation, I present my work towards understanding and mitigating the interactions between Ospreys (Pandion haliaetus) and human-made structures. To achieve this, I explored multiple elements of conflict identification, monitoring, and basic ecology of the target species to better inform conflict mitigation. In Chapter I, …
Evaluating Non-Invasive Environmental Methods For Detecting Tropical African Pangolin Species To Inform Conservation Actions, Ichu Godwill Ichu
Evaluating Non-Invasive Environmental Methods For Detecting Tropical African Pangolin Species To Inform Conservation Actions, Ichu Godwill Ichu
Theses and Dissertations
Tropical African pangolin species are threatened throughout their range due to habitat loss and illegal take. Limited knowledge on distribution has rendered conservation efforts challenging. Methods commonly used for other wildlife species need to be tested for each pangolin species as each has variable ecologies requiring specific detection and monitoring techniques. This thesis evaluates the efficacy of two non-invasive environmental methods for detecting tropical African pangolin species, and consists of two complementary studies; a proof of concept study using soil sourced eDNA from a white-bellied pangolin enclosure in the Columbus Zoo, Ohio, to detect the species, and a field study …
Evaluating Population Genetic Structure And Potential Genomic Signals Of Natural Selection In A Migratory Songbird (Protonotaria Citrea), Tyler A. Hohenstein
Evaluating Population Genetic Structure And Potential Genomic Signals Of Natural Selection In A Migratory Songbird (Protonotaria Citrea), Tyler A. Hohenstein
Theses and Dissertations
In this study I attempted to further resolve the population genetic structure in the Prothonotary Warbler (Protonotaria citrea), and conducted an outlier SNP analysis and exploratory gene ontology analysis to investigate potential ongoing natural selection in the species. This analysis of population structure confirms previous work by DeSaix et al. (2019), where weak population structure was observed between eastern sites along the Atlantic Coastal Plain, and western sites in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley, possibly due to a genetic discontinuity across the Appalachian Mountains. I conducted two forms of outlier SNP analyses, a principal component analysis (PCA)-based approach to identify SNPs …
Giant Kelp Genetic Monitoring Before And After Disturbance Reveals Stable Genetic Diveristy In Southern California, William Hayward Klingbeil
Giant Kelp Genetic Monitoring Before And After Disturbance Reveals Stable Genetic Diveristy In Southern California, William Hayward Klingbeil
Theses and Dissertations
Given the impacts of climate change and other anthropogenic stressors on marine systems, there is a need to accurately predict how species respond to changing environments and disturbance regimes. The use of genetic tools to monitor temporal trends in populations gives ecologists the ability to estimate changes in genetic diversity and effective population size that may be undetectable by traditional census methods. Although multiple studies have used temporal genetic analysis, they usually involve commercially important species, and rarely sample before and after disturbance. In this study, we use newly collected samples, coupled with previously characterized microsatellite data to assess the …
Phylogenetic History Of The Amy Gene Cluster In Catarrhines, Christian M. Gagnon
Phylogenetic History Of The Amy Gene Cluster In Catarrhines, Christian M. Gagnon
Theses and Dissertations
This study phylogenetically analyzed 30 AMY-related genes from 11 primates. The results show the gradual expansion of the AMY gene family which could have allowed primates to adapt to various ecological landscapes and maximize energy intake from starch-rich foods in periods of food scarcity.
Spatial Genetic Structure And Local Adaptation Within And Among Foxtail Pine (Pinus Balfouriana Subsp. Balfouriana) Populations Located In The Klamath Mountains, California, Rebecca D. Piri
Theses and Dissertations
Foxtail pine (Pinus balfouriana) is a subalpine conifer endemic to California, notably separated into two disjunct subspecies. Previous studies have described the northern subspecies,Pinus balfouriana subsp. balfouriana,as having an uncommonly high level of genetic differentiation and no discernible spatial patterns in phenotypic variation. This study seeks to characterize the spatial genetic structure and patterns of selection of the northern subspecies (Pinus balfouriana subsp. balfouriana) using genome-wide data and to identify the influence of ecology and environment on the unique genetic patterns. I show that genetic differentiation among populations is much less than previously estimated …
Natural And Anthropogenic Drivers Of Tree Evolutionary Dynamics, Brandon M. Lind
Natural And Anthropogenic Drivers Of Tree Evolutionary Dynamics, Brandon M. Lind
Theses and Dissertations
Species of trees inhabit diverse and heterogeneous environments, and often play important ecological roles in such communities. As a result of their vast ecological breadth, trees have become adapted to various environmental pressures. In this dissertation I examine various environmental factors that drive evolutionary dynamics in threePinusspecies in California and Nevada, USA. In chapter two, I assess the role of management influence of thinning, fire, and their interaction on fine-scale gene flow within fire-suppressed populations of Pinus lambertiana, a historically dominant and ecologically important member of mixed-conifer forests of the Sierra Nevada, California. Here, I find evidence …
Does Genotype Correlate With Phenotype? Evaluating Ruffed Lemur (Varecia Spp.) Color Vision Using Subject Mediated Automatic Remote Testing Apparatus (Smarta), Raymond Vagell
Theses and Dissertations
Ruffed lemur (Varecia spp.) color vision research was conducted using a multidisciplinary approach: psychophysics, genetic analysis, technology, and animal training. The behavioral manifestation of Varecia spp. trichromacy was shown using a touchscreen apparatus (SMARTA). Trichromats performed better than dichromats when discriminating red from green (G2 = 78.10, p < 0.001).
Evolution Of Antagonistic Relationships In Proteins: A Case Study Of Radialis- And Diviricata-Like Genes, Ao Gao
Theses and Dissertations
The antagonistic relationship of proteins describes the opponent interactions that result in one protein suppressing the function of another. Developmental genetic studies of Antirrhinum majus demonstrated that two transcription factors from the MYB gene family, RAD and DIV, interact through antagonism to regulate floral dorsoventral asymmetry. Interestingly, similar antagonistic interactions were found among proteins of FSM1 (RAD-like), MYBI (DIV-like), and DRIF in Solanum lycopersicum, which is involved in fruit development. Here, we report on the homology of these antagonistic MYB proteins based on reconstruction of the phylogeny of I-box-like and R-R-type clades, where RAD- and DIV-like belong, …
Genome Wide Epigenetic Analyses Of Araptus Attenuatus, A Bark Beetle, Chitra Seshadri
Genome Wide Epigenetic Analyses Of Araptus Attenuatus, A Bark Beetle, Chitra Seshadri
Theses and Dissertations
Phylogeographic studies have relied on surveying neutral genetic variation in natural populations as a way of gaining better insights into the evolutionary processes shaping present day population demography. Recent emphasis on understanding putative adaptive variation have brought to light the role of epigenetic variation in influencing phenotypes and the mechanisms underlying local adaptation. While much is known about how methylation acts at specific loci to influence known phenotypes, there is little information on the spatial genetic structure of genome-wide patterns of methylation and the extent to which it can extend our understanding of both neutral and putatively adaptive processes. This …
Evaluating The Influence Of Environmental Factors On The Rate Of Extra-Pair Matings In Tropical And Temperate Populations Of The House Wren (Troglodytes Aedon), Kaitlin Claire Mckenney
Evaluating The Influence Of Environmental Factors On The Rate Of Extra-Pair Matings In Tropical And Temperate Populations Of The House Wren (Troglodytes Aedon), Kaitlin Claire Mckenney
Theses and Dissertations
Considerable variation exists in the rate of extra-pair matings (EPMs) in birds. Environmental variability likely influences EPM rates within species, but the effects of local environmental factors on EPM rates are largely unpredictable. To determine whether broad-scale environmental factors might be better predictors of EPM rates within species, we quantified levels of extra-pair paternity in the house wren (Troglodytes aedon) in four populations spanning a range of latitude, elevation, and primary productivity (measured by actual evapotranspiration rates). Our results indicated an intermediate and variable level of EPM among populations (6 -31% extra-pair young) that was not significantly affected by 3 …