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Full-Text Articles in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Using Introduced Species Of Anolis Lizards To Test Adaptive Radiation Theory, James T. Stroud
Using Introduced Species Of Anolis Lizards To Test Adaptive Radiation Theory, James T. Stroud
FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Adaptive radiation – the proliferation of species from a single ancestor and diversification into many ecologically different forms – has long been heralded as an important process in the generation of phenotypic diversity. However, the early stages of adaptive radiation are notoriously elusive to observe and study. In this dissertation, I capitalize on communities of introduced non-native Anolis lizards as analogues of early stage adaptive radiations. In Chapter II, I begin by reviewing the concept of “ecological opportunity” – a classic hypothesis put forward as a potential key to understanding when and how adaptive radiation occurs. In Chapter III, I …
Redescription And Phylogenetic Analysis Of The Materials Assigned To The Taxon "Captorhinikos" Chozaensis, Jason Paul Jung
Redescription And Phylogenetic Analysis Of The Materials Assigned To The Taxon "Captorhinikos" Chozaensis, Jason Paul Jung
Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations
“Captorhinikos” chozaensis is a multiple-tooth-rowed captorhinid reptile from the Lower Permian Clear Fork Group, undivided formation. Upon re-examination of the materials associated with the species from both the Chicago Field Museum of Natural History, and the Smithsonian United States National Museum, I reaffirm their affinity and collective identity as a valid taxon. “Captorhinikos” chozaensis does not, however, belong with either of the two members of its genus, C. valensis or “C.” parvus, instead occupying its own branch on the phylogenetic tree of the Captorhinidae. This conclusion is based in strong results from a combined phylogenetic parsimony analysis combined with …
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 …