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Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons™
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Articles 1 - 7 of 7
Full-Text Articles in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Molecular Evidence Suggests Multiple Evolutionary Origins Of Sociality In The Polyphenic Spider Anelosimus Studiosus (Araneae: Theridiidae)., Nathaniel O. Weber
Molecular Evidence Suggests Multiple Evolutionary Origins Of Sociality In The Polyphenic Spider Anelosimus Studiosus (Araneae: Theridiidae)., Nathaniel O. Weber
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Anelosimus studiosus exhibits two behavioral phenotypes: subsocial and social. This is the only documented spider inhabiting a temperate climate exhibiting social behavior. While the subsocial phenotype is most common throughout the range, the social behavior occurs in isolated pockets in northern latitudes. This study examines the origins of the social phenotype within a segment of the spider's range. Two hypotheses are tested: 1) pockets of social behavior represent a single origin or 2) pockets of social behavior represent local evolutions, thus leading to multiple origins of evolution. Microsatellite loci were used to determine genetic structure of the population and to …
Lack Of Rhythmicity In The Honey Bee Queen: An Investigation Of Temporal Behavioral Patterns In Apis Mellifera Ligustica., Jennifer N. Johnson
Lack Of Rhythmicity In The Honey Bee Queen: An Investigation Of Temporal Behavioral Patterns In Apis Mellifera Ligustica., Jennifer N. Johnson
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Little is known about the behavioral patterns of honey bee queens. To determine if mated honey bee queens possess diel rhythmicity in behavior, we observed them in glass-sided observation hives using three types of observation regimes: focal studies consisting of 2-hour and 24-hour continuous observations as well as scan-sampling of multiple queens. All behaviors (active: walking, inspecting, egg-laying, begging for food, feeding, and grooming self; inactive: standing) occurred at all times of day and night, but no queen showed consistent diel rhythmicity in any of the individual behaviors. There were no consistent diel differences in active versus inactive behaviors or …
Natural Selection And Its Interactions With Migration And Population Demography: Experiments In Wild Guppy Populations, Dylan Jones Weese
Natural Selection And Its Interactions With Migration And Population Demography: Experiments In Wild Guppy Populations, Dylan Jones Weese
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
In this dissertation I quantify spatial and temporal variation in the pattern and strength of natural selection in wild populations of Trinidadian guppies (Poecilia reticulata), and assess the demographic costs of ongoing contemporary evolution in the form of selection against migrants. First, I describe the results often mark-recapture experiments to test hypotheses concerning the role of natural selection in geographic patterns of trait variation. Previous work has reported that guppies inhabiting high- and low-predation sites differ in both body shape and color. These patterns of phenotypic variation have been theorized to reflect differences in the balance between functional trade-offs among …
Analysis Of Optical Spikes Reveals Dynamics Of Aggregates In The Twilight Zone, Nathan Briggs
Analysis Of Optical Spikes Reveals Dynamics Of Aggregates In The Twilight Zone, Nathan Briggs
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The "biological pump," whereby phytoplankton grow in the surface ocean, aggregate, and sink, is a critical process contributing to global atmospheric CO2 drawdown and provides the vast majority of food for deep ocean and benthic ecosystems. The strength of this pump hinges on the amount of material that stick together to form larger aggregates, the sinking rates of these aggregates, and the rate at which they are consumed as they sink. However, marine aggregates, also called "marine snow," are often fragile and notoriously difficult to sample, their sinking rates are highly variable and difficult to quantify, and their concentrations can …
Hermit Thrush (Catharus Guttatus) And Veery (C. Fuscescens) Breeding Habitat Associations In Southern Appalachian High-Elevation Forests., Andrew J. Laughlin
Hermit Thrush (Catharus Guttatus) And Veery (C. Fuscescens) Breeding Habitat Associations In Southern Appalachian High-Elevation Forests., Andrew J. Laughlin
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The Hermit Thrush is a new breeding bird in the Southern Appalachian high-elevation mountains, having expanded its range southward over the last few decades. Here it is sympatric with the Veery, a congeneric breeding resident. In order to more fully understand why the range expansion took place and to understand more about the local ecology of the newly arrived bird, I measured several habitat variables in 30 Hermit Thrush and 24 Veery territories. Principal Components Analysis and Cluster Analysis brought to light several patterns of habitat preferences for these 2 species. Hermit Thrushes prefer territories with more leaf litter on …
Land Use Planning And Vernal Pool Conservation In A Southern Maine Town, Robert Carlton Freeman
Land Use Planning And Vernal Pool Conservation In A Southern Maine Town, Robert Carlton Freeman
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
In this dissertation I investigate the impacts of both growth management regulations and vernal pool protection regulations on landscape permeability for wood frogs (Rana sylvatica), a vernal pool-obligate species. Motivated by new legislation in Maine (USA) to protect vernal pools and the species that depend on them, I combined a spatially-explicit economic model of the conversion of undeveloped parcels to residential use with a landscape permeability model for wood frogs. I estimated the economic model using a Bayesian Gibbs Sampler to account for spatial error dependence and used the results to predict future landscape patterns in a focal town, Falmouth, …
Assessing The Biological Condition Of Maine Streams And Rivers Using Benthic Algal Communities, Thomas John Danielson
Assessing The Biological Condition Of Maine Streams And Rivers Using Benthic Algal Communities, Thomas John Danielson
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The purpose of this study was to test and develop algal methods of evaluating the condition of Maine streams and rivers. The primary objective was to develop a statistical model to predict attainment of Maine's aquatic life criteria for water quality classes A, B, and C. I collected 298 samples of algae on rocks from 193 locations across the state. The major pattern in species composition related to conversion of forests to urban, residential, and agricultural land uses. I calculated preferred environmental conditions of 236 algal taxa for 1) concentrations of nitrogen, phosphorus, and dissolved ions in the water, 2) …