Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons^™

Phylogenetic And Transcriptomic Analyses Of Vision In Two Cave Adapted Crustaceans, Asellus Aquaticus (Isopoda: Asellidae) And Niphargus Hrabei (Amphipoda: Niphargidae)., Jorge L. Perez Moreno

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The unique characteristics of aquatic caves and of their predominantly crustacean biodiversity nominate them as ideal study subjects for evolutionary biology. The present dissertation capitalizes on a perfect natural experiment, the Molnar Janos thermal cave system in Budapest, Hungary. This intricate freshwater cave system and the immediately adjacent Malom Lake present the ideal opportunity to address questions of colonization, adaptation, and evolution. Despite marked environmental differences between the cave and surface waters, both localities are inhabited by natural populations of two emerging model cave species, the isopod Asellus aquaticus and the amphipod Niphargus hrabei. In the present dissertation, I …