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Articles 1 - 9 of 9
Full-Text Articles in Behavior and Ethology
Functional Regionalization In The Fly Eye As An Adaptation To Habitat Structure, Carlos A. Ruiz
Functional Regionalization In The Fly Eye As An Adaptation To Habitat Structure, Carlos A. Ruiz
FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
With over 150,000 described species, flies constitute one of the most species-rich groups of animals on earth, and have managed to colonize almost every corner of it. Part of their success comes from their amazing flying skills, which are strongly tied to their visual capabilities. To navigate fast and accurately through their habitats, they must be able to process the inordinate amounts of visual information necessary to sort obstacles, avoid predators and remain on course. Surprisingly, despite their tiny brains, flies have no problem in processing all that information to generate correcting maneuvers in just about 30 ms. To this …
Factors Affecting Green Turtle Foraging Ecology Across Multiple Spatial Scales, Elizabeth Rose Whitman
Factors Affecting Green Turtle Foraging Ecology Across Multiple Spatial Scales, Elizabeth Rose Whitman
FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The hierarchical levels at which resource selection occurs can have important consequences for individual and population energy budgets and structure the impacts of a forager on its ecosystem. Assessing factors affecting resource selection of large marine herbivores across scales is important because of their potentially large impacts on seagrass community dynamics and historical and current changes in their population sizes and those of their potential predators. I explored the factors (predation risk, resource abundance, quality and identity) affecting resource use of large marine herbivores (green turtles, Chelonia mydas) from the scale of habitat patches to forage species within patches. …
A Confluence Of Invasion, Behavioral, And Theoretical Ecology: What Drives Ephemeral Metacommunity Re-Assembly?, Jesse Ryan Blanchard
A Confluence Of Invasion, Behavioral, And Theoretical Ecology: What Drives Ephemeral Metacommunity Re-Assembly?, Jesse Ryan Blanchard
FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Metacommunity theory has been particularly useful in understanding the way spatially structured communities assemble. Both niche and neutral processes are known to influence metacommunity assembly, and the relative influence of each depends on the level of dispersal-limitation. Contemporary trait-based analyses of metacommunity assembly have enhanced our understanding of these processes. Of the traits investigated, individual personalities have received the least attention, but have been suggested to be drivers of metacommunity assembly model parameters, such as dispersal tendencies and patch density. I address this topic from three angles, three chapters, in this dissertation. First, I used a three-year field survey of …
Jewels For Dollars: Native And Nonnative Freshwater Fish Interactions In A Stressful Dry Down Environment, Vanessa Trujillo
Jewels For Dollars: Native And Nonnative Freshwater Fish Interactions In A Stressful Dry Down Environment, Vanessa Trujillo
FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Vertebrate populations are subjected to novel anthropogenic stressors that are expected to multiply exponentially in the future. Introductions of nonnative species and human-altered hydrology are among these stressors to native species communities. The Rocky Glades, located in Everglades National Park, may serve as a population sink for native species that typically do not survive the altered hydrology of the dry season, and as a source of nonnative species that may be better adapted to chronically stressful conditions. In the seasonally-flooded Everglades, the nonnative African Jewelfish invaded in the 1960s and has since shown rapid range expansion. African Jewelfish are aggressive …
Examining Movement And Habitat Selection Of Everglades Fishes In Response To Seasonal Water Levels, Gregory J. Hill
Examining Movement And Habitat Selection Of Everglades Fishes In Response To Seasonal Water Levels, Gregory J. Hill
FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Fish distribution patterns and seasonal habitat use play a key role in the food web dynamics of aquatic ecosystems, including the Florida Everglades. In this study I examined the fine scale habitat shifts and movements of spotted sunfish, Lepomis punctatus across varying seasons and hydrologic conditions using in-situ field enclosures and Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) systems. Data on fish use of three dominant Everglades marsh habitats and activity level were recorded continuously from January to August, 2015. Fish were more active and had the highest use of higher elevation habitats when water levels rose during an experimental reversal in mid-April. …
Vocal Flexibility And Regional Variation In Free-Tailed Bat Song, Israel Salazar
Vocal Flexibility And Regional Variation In Free-Tailed Bat Song, Israel Salazar
FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
While much work has been done on regional vocal variation in birds, relatively few studies have found evidence of similar variation in mammalian vocalizations. This study quantifies individual, colonial, and regional level variation in T. brasiliensis songs in the southeastern United States. Brazilian free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis) are among a handful of mammals that produce complex, hierarchically structured vocalizations. Their songs are composed of multiple syllables that are combined into three phrases that vary in number and order across renditions. Tadarida brasiliensis songs showed considerable amount of variation, and differed significantly between locations in terms of syllable structure …
Non-Consumptive Effects Of Predators In Coral Reef Communities And The Indirect Consequences Of Marine Protected Areas, Laura Catano
Non-Consumptive Effects Of Predators In Coral Reef Communities And The Indirect Consequences Of Marine Protected Areas, Laura Catano
FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Predators exert strong direct and indirect effects on ecological communities by intimidating their prey. Non-consumptive effects (NCEs) of predators are important features of many ecosystems and have changed the way we understand predator-prey interactions, but are not well understood in some systems. For my dissertation research I combined a variety of approaches to examine the effect of predation risk on herbivore foraging and reproductive behaviors in a coral reef ecosystem. In the first part of my dissertation, I investigated how diet and territoriality of herbivorous fish varied across multiple reefs with different levels of predator biomass in the Florida Keys …
The Role Of Teleost Grazers In A Relatively Pristine Seagrass Ecosystem, Cindy Bessey
The Role Of Teleost Grazers In A Relatively Pristine Seagrass Ecosystem, Cindy Bessey
FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Trophic downgrading of ecosystems necessitates a functional understanding of trophic cascades. Identifying the presence of cascades, and the mechanisms through which they occur, is particularly important for seagrass meadows, which are among the most threatened ecosystems on Earth. Shark Bay, Western Australia provides a model system to investigate the potential importance of top-down effects in a relatively pristine seagrass ecosystem. The role of megagrazers in the Shark Bay system has been previously investigated, but the role of macrograzers (i.e., teleosts), and their importance relative to megagrazers, remains unknown. The objective of my dissertation was to elucidate the importance of teleost …
The Effect Of Male-Male Competition And Its Underlying Regulatory Mechanisms On The Electric Signal Of The Gymnotiform Fish Brachyhypopomus Gauderio, Vielka Lineth Salazar
The Effect Of Male-Male Competition And Its Underlying Regulatory Mechanisms On The Electric Signal Of The Gymnotiform Fish Brachyhypopomus Gauderio, Vielka Lineth Salazar
FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Sexually-selected communication signals can be used by competing males to settle contests without incurring the costs of fighting. The ability to dynamically regulate the signal in a context-dependent manner can further minimize the costs of male aggressive interactions. Such is the case in the gymnotiform fish Brachyhypopomus gauderio, which, by coupling its electric organ discharge (EOD) waveform to endocrine systems with circadian, seasonal, and behavioral drivers, can regulate its signal to derive the greatest reproductive benefit. My dissertation research examined the functional role of the EOD plasticity observed in male B. gauderio and the physiological mechanisms that regulate the enhanced …