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University of Nebraska - Lincoln
School of Biological Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
- Keyword
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- Behavioral plasticity (3)
- Green swordtails (2)
- Predation (2)
- Sexual selection (2)
- Alternative mating tactics (1)
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- Dolomedes tenebrosus (1)
- Ecological risks of transgenic crops (1)
- Female choice (1)
- Female-female (1)
- Fitness benefits (1)
- Foraging (1)
- Green swordtail (1)
- Gryllus lineaticeps (1)
- Mate choice (1)
- Mating effort (1)
- Mating system (1)
- Monogyny (1)
- Paternal effort (1)
- Plant virus prevalence (1)
- Poeciliids (1)
- Pollinator behavior (1)
- Polyandry (1)
- Population growth rate (1)
- Protandry (1)
- Receiver bias (1)
- Self-sacrifice (1)
- Sexual cannibalism (1)
- Sexual size dimorphism (1)
- Thomisidae (1)
- Wing polymorphism (1)
Articles 1 - 7 of 7
Full-Text Articles in Behavior and Ethology
Behavioral Plasticity Across Non-Social Contexts In Female Green Swordtails, Xiphophorus Hellerii, Lindsey M. Coit
Behavioral Plasticity Across Non-Social Contexts In Female Green Swordtails, Xiphophorus Hellerii, Lindsey M. Coit
School of Biological Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
Phenotypic plasticity is the ability of an individual to alter its phenotype in response to environmental change. Individuals that express plasticity in behavior can quickly respond to changes that occur in the environment. Therefore, individuals that exhibit behavioral plasticity can alter their behavioral expression to best match current environmental conditions. The degree and direction of behavioral plasticity may be influenced by variation in individual characteristics. Understanding how variation in individual traits affects behavioral plasticity, and, whether patterns of behavioral plasticity are consistent across behavioral contexts are important topics to explore as we try to better understand how plasticity evolves and …
Inter- And Intra-Individual Variation In Predator-Related Behavioral Plasticity Expressed By Female Green Swordtails (Xiphophorus Hellerii), Rachael A. Disciullo
Inter- And Intra-Individual Variation In Predator-Related Behavioral Plasticity Expressed By Female Green Swordtails (Xiphophorus Hellerii), Rachael A. Disciullo
School of Biological Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
Phenotypic plasticity is the ability of one genotype to express multiple phenotypes under variable environments. Behavioral plasticity is a type of phenotypic plasticity in which individuals adjust behavior in response to changes in environment. Often, behavioral plasticity is studied at the level of the population, rather than at the level of the individual. Further, few studies have considered the effect of individual traits, such as size and age, on the expression of behavioral plasticity, or, how individual plasticity may be correlated across different contexts. In this study, we used female green swordtails (Xiphophorus hellerii) to test the effects …
Proximate And Evolutionary Causes Of Sexual Size Dimorphism In The Crab Spider Mecaphesa Celer, Marie Claire Chelini
Proximate And Evolutionary Causes Of Sexual Size Dimorphism In The Crab Spider Mecaphesa Celer, Marie Claire Chelini
School of Biological Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
Animal species’ body sizes result from the balance between selection for survival and selection for reproduction. In species with sexual size dimorphism (SSD), this balance differs between females and males, resulting in distinct sizes despite similar constraints. I used an integrative approach to understand how sexual section, and differences in developmental trajectories and metabolic physiology, resulted in the female biased SSD of the crab spider Mecaphesa celer (Thomisidae). SSD in spiders is often assumed to be a consequence of selection for early male maturation, which should provide males with additional mating opportunities. My results allow us to discard mate …
Predation And Behavioral Plasticity In Green Swordtails: Mate Choice In Females And Exploratory Behavior In Males, Andrew J. Melie
Predation And Behavioral Plasticity In Green Swordtails: Mate Choice In Females And Exploratory Behavior In Males, Andrew J. Melie
School of Biological Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
Two studies were carried out with green swordtails, Xiphophorus helleri, to investigate the effect of predation on swordtail behavior, and to determine how behavioral plasticity operates in both a mate choice and an anti-predator context. Male green swordtails vary in colorful conspicuous traits, e.g. the colorful dorsal fin and sword. Female swordtails have a preexisting bias for males with a sword, and prefer long-sworded males to short-sworded males, but this preference is plastic. The first study examined predator-related plasticity in the behavior of males differing in size. Smaller males showed greater behavioral plasticity; they were more active in the absence …
Spontaneous Male Death And Monogyny In The Dark Fishing Spider Dolomedes Tenebrosus Hentz, 1843 (Araneae, Pisauridae), Steven K. Schwartz
Spontaneous Male Death And Monogyny In The Dark Fishing Spider Dolomedes Tenebrosus Hentz, 1843 (Araneae, Pisauridae), Steven K. Schwartz
School of Biological Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
Male animals typically attempt to mate with multiple females in order to increase their reproductive success. In some species, however, males instead invest in fertilizing the eggs of a single female. Monogyny (male monogamy) is found in a diverse assemblage of taxa, and recent theoretical work reveals that a male-biased sex ratio can favor the evolution of this relatively rare mating system. We integrate this theoretical framework with field observations and laboratory experiments involving the sexually size dimorphic fishing spider, Dolomedes tenebrosus. Results from mating trials revealed a novel form of self-sacrifice behavior where males spontaneously die when they …
Life History Tradeoffs And Phenotypic Plasticity: The Tale Of A Flight Polyphenic Field Cricket, Chandreyee Mitra
Life History Tradeoffs And Phenotypic Plasticity: The Tale Of A Flight Polyphenic Field Cricket, Chandreyee Mitra
School of Biological Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
Most organisms are resource limited. Such limitations can result in tradeoffs between life history traits -- any traits that affect survival or reproduction. Flight polyphenic field crickets are thought to be a classic example of such a life history tradeoff, in which individuals tradeoff investment in flight capability and investment in reproduction. This polyphenism results from the interaction of two morphological traits: wing morphology (short or long) and flight muscle morphology (functional pink or non-functional white), and is affected by both genes and the environment. I examined life history traits of a flight polyphenic field cricket, Gryllus lineaticeps. First, …
Ecological Effects Of Virus-Resistant Transgenic Squash, Holly R. Prendeville
Ecological Effects Of Virus-Resistant Transgenic Squash, Holly R. Prendeville
School of Biological Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
Two ecological risks associated with the use of transgenic crops include the effects of transgene products on non-target organisms and the effects of a transgene after it moves from crops into a wild plant population. In work presented here, we specifically investigate the ecological risks of virus-resistant transgenic squash. We observed pollinator behavior to determine if pollinators are affected by nontarget effects of the virus-resistant transgene. We found that pollinator behavior did differ between conventional and virus-resistant transgenic squash due to pleiotropic effects of the transgene. This difference in pollinator behavior can affect plant mating patterns, thereby affecting crop-wild hybridization …