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Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons™
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- Phylogenetics (3)
- Phenology (2)
- Aethycteron (1)
- Austrobaileyaceae (1)
- Behavioral evolution (1)
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- Behavioral syndromes (1)
- Biodiversity (1)
- Biogeography (1)
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- Cichlid (1)
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- Dactylogyrid (1)
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- Ectomycorrhizal fungi (1)
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- Evolutionary biology (1)
- Gene expression (1)
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- Genotype-by-environment interactions (1)
- Geographic Mosaics (1)
- Gill Parasites (1)
- Global change (1)
- Historical biogeography (1)
- Host evolution (1)
- Illicium parviflorum (1)
- Inbreeding Depression (1)
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Articles 1 - 13 of 13
Full-Text Articles in Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Reproductive Characteristics Of The Stripetail Darter (Etheostoma Kennicotti) Relative To Monogenean Gill Parasite Infection In Estill Fork In North Alabama, Joy L. Garcia, Zeina Celine Sleiman, Corinne N. Preacher, Bruce Stallsmith
Reproductive Characteristics Of The Stripetail Darter (Etheostoma Kennicotti) Relative To Monogenean Gill Parasite Infection In Estill Fork In North Alabama, Joy L. Garcia, Zeina Celine Sleiman, Corinne N. Preacher, Bruce Stallsmith
Southeastern Fishes Council Proceedings
What relationship exists between Aethycteron sp. gill parasite infection and the reproductive characteristics of stripetail darters, Etheostoma kennicotti? 450 E. kennicotti were collected over 11 months from Estill Fork in Jackson County, Alabama. Gonads were removed and photographed. All oocytes were counted and then classified into one of four developmental stages based on size and appearance. Gill parasites belonging to the monogenean genus Aethycteron were excised, photographed, and counted. Sexual dimorphism in length and mass was observed in E. kennicotti. The number of males found at the 25> mm SL range far outnumbered the females while almost all …
Climate-Driven Selection Results In Powerful Geographic Framework For Predicting Phenotype, Alexandra Neild
Climate-Driven Selection Results In Powerful Geographic Framework For Predicting Phenotype, Alexandra Neild
Masters Theses
Our ability to prepare for and mitigate the likely ecological and evolutionary impacts of climate change largely depends upon our ability to predict the phenotypic responses of organisms that allow them to persist, adapt, and migrate along environmental stress gradients. Using fifteen populations of cottonwoods, a dominant riparian forest tree, that are distributed along elevation gradients and represent three genetic provenances, we hypothesized and show that: 1) populations within a provenance demonstrate parallel evolutionary responses to climatic gradients associated with elevation; and 2) the evolutionary effects of elevation on bud-break phenology varied by provenance. Across all populations, we find strong …
Impacts Of Anthropogenic Change On Plant Reproduction And Fitness, Alexandra S. Faidiga
Impacts Of Anthropogenic Change On Plant Reproduction And Fitness, Alexandra S. Faidiga
Masters Theses
Humans are altering natural systems around the globe in myriad ways. For plant species, such anthropogenic changes have resulted in increasingly fragmented populations, desynchronized interactions with mutualists, and shifted geographic ranges, among other effects. However, despite numerous examples of human impacts on plant populations, the consequences of these changes on plant reproduction remain poorly understood. In my thesis, I investigate the impacts of two forms of anthropogenic change–habitat disturbance and climate warming–on plant reproduction and fitness. I take two distinct approaches to address questions posed at local and regional scales. In Chapter I, I ask how inbreeding depression varies across …
Evolution And Resurrection Ecology Of A Foundational Coastal Marsh Plant, Jennifer L. Summers
Evolution And Resurrection Ecology Of A Foundational Coastal Marsh Plant, Jennifer L. Summers
Doctoral Dissertations
Stratified storage of dormant seeds in soil can result in natural archives useful for studying evolutionary responses to environmental change. However, few studies leverage soil-stored seed banks as natural archives, in part because of concerns over attrition, bias, and sediment mixing. Here, I examine the persistent seed bank of Schoenoplectus americanus, a foundational brackish marsh sedge, to a) determine whether it can serve as a resource for reconstructing demographic and population genetic/genomic variation, b) whether and how evolution may be occurring across a century. After extracting seeds from radionuclide-dated soil cores taken across the Chesapeake Bay, I “resurrected” age …
Morphological And Gene Expression Plasticity In Neotropical Cichlid Fishes, Sharon Fern Clemmensen
Morphological And Gene Expression Plasticity In Neotropical Cichlid Fishes, Sharon Fern Clemmensen
Doctoral Dissertations
Trophic divergence in cichlid fish is linked to morphological shifts in the pharyngeal jaw apparatus. For instance, in the Heroine cichlids of Central America, the ability to crush hard-shelled mollusks is a convergent phenotype with multiple evolutionary origins. These durophagous species often have very similar pharyngeal jaw morphologies associated with the pharyngeal jaw apparatus and some of these similarities could be due to phenotypically plastic responses to mechanical stress. I examined the durophagous cichlid Vieja maculicauda for differences in pharyngeal osteology, dentition, and soft tissues when exposed to different diet regimes. Here I discuss the effect on the morphology and …
Systematics, Diversification, And Functional Diversity Of Russulaceae (Russulales), Brian Patrick Looney
Systematics, Diversification, And Functional Diversity Of Russulaceae (Russulales), Brian Patrick Looney
Doctoral Dissertations
The family Russulaceae is an iconic family of mushroom-forming Basidiomycetes both because of their importance as edible mushrooms in many parts of the world and their species richness in both temperate and tropical forested biomes. While much mycological research has been focused on this group, recent systematic and ecological research has failed to develop a comprehensive or cohesive organization by which to understand the evolutionary relationships, patterns of diversification, or functional importance of the group. Recently, interest in ectomycorrhizal fungi (EmF), of which Russulaceae is a key lineage, has greatly increased due to the recognition of the importance of EmF …
Ecological And Evolutionary Dynamics Of Plant-Soil Feedbacks: Influences On Evolution And Range Dynamics, Michael E. Van Nuland
Ecological And Evolutionary Dynamics Of Plant-Soil Feedbacks: Influences On Evolution And Range Dynamics, Michael E. Van Nuland
Doctoral Dissertations
Plants interact with, modify, and are affected by their soil environments. Though plant-soil interactions are well known to be important and active regulators of ecosystem function and community structure, much less is known about how these interactions affect plant evolution. The primary goal of my dissertation was to examine plant-soil interactions under a range of ecological and evolutionary contexts to better understand patterns of biodiversity, ecosystem function, and whole system responses to environmental change. Taking such an eco-evolutionary perspective allows for a holistic understanding of the causes and consequences of complex abiotic and biotic interactions that link ecosystem ecology and …
Trait Evolution In Spiders: Perspectives On The Evolution Of Behavioral Syndromes And Web Structures, Jennifer Marie Bosco
Trait Evolution In Spiders: Perspectives On The Evolution Of Behavioral Syndromes And Web Structures, Jennifer Marie Bosco
Doctoral Dissertations
Organisms have evolved complex behavioral, morphological and physiological traits in response to various selection pressures. These phenotypes are usually composed of many traits that may or may not be genetically or phenotypically correlated. Correlations of both types can lead to evolutionary trade-offs, which may be broken over long evolutionary time periods through such mechanisms as the decoupling of genetic linkages and the development of phenotypic plasticity. Behavioral traits associated with temperament provide an excellent system in which to evaluate underlying mechanisms of the establishment and decoupling of genetic linkages. Other traits, such as the type of web that a spider …
Using Phylogenetic Comparative Methods To Understand Diversification And Geographic Range Evolution, Kathryn Aurora Massana
Using Phylogenetic Comparative Methods To Understand Diversification And Geographic Range Evolution, Kathryn Aurora Massana
Doctoral Dissertations
Two key processes that have been modeled in a phylogenetic comparative framework are diversification and historical biogeography. Many questions arise on what process have shaped the abundance (or lack) of species we see today and what influences their survival and interconnectedness with other species. Many methods have been developed to answer these questions. Over the past several decades there has been a rise in parametric modeling and development of more adequate frameworks to answer biological questions of interest. However, many models still lack the incorporation of ecological, mainly biotic factors, which influence the evolution and ecology of species, while accounting …
A New Adaptive Landscape: Urbanization As A Strong Evolutionary Force, Lauren Christie Breza
A New Adaptive Landscape: Urbanization As A Strong Evolutionary Force, Lauren Christie Breza
Masters Theses
Urbanization is rapidly increasing as human population growth steadily grows, but there is little consensus of the ecological consequence of this population shift and almost no information of the evolutionary consequences for local biodiversity. Nearly two-thirds of the world’s population will live in city centers by 2050 with profound impacts on landscapes that can act as important agents of selection. This study aims to identify 1) the net effect of urbanization on species richness, 2) how phylogenetic diversity varies between urban and rural sites, and 3) the strength of urbanization as a selection pressure. First, a meta-analysis was conducted in …
Forest Or Phylogeny?: Untangling Phylogenetic Signal From Selection Pressure Using Barronopsis Texans, Alexandra I. Chatman
Forest Or Phylogeny?: Untangling Phylogenetic Signal From Selection Pressure Using Barronopsis Texans, Alexandra I. Chatman
Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects
No abstract provided.
Biogeographical Patterns, Ecological Drivers, And Evolutionary Mechanisms Of Plant Invasions, Rafael Dudeque Zenni
Biogeographical Patterns, Ecological Drivers, And Evolutionary Mechanisms Of Plant Invasions, Rafael Dudeque Zenni
Doctoral Dissertations
Understanding and predicting organisms’ responses to novel environments is a key issue for global change biology. In this dissertation, I study biogeographical patterns of plant invasions in Brazil, explore some of their ecological drivers, and disentangle the gene-level mechanisms that cause introduced organisms to become successful or failed invaders. I found that, for the invasive flora of Brazil, species were not introduced to new regions at random and that a species’ reason for introduction and continent of origin were associated. Asian ornamental and African forage plants are overrepresented, and two families (Poaceae and Fabaceae) dominate the invasive flora of Brazil. …
Mating System Biology Of The Florida Native Plant: Illicium Parviflorum, Nicholas Earl Buckley
Mating System Biology Of The Florida Native Plant: Illicium Parviflorum, Nicholas Earl Buckley
Masters Theses
Self-incompatibility is thought to have played a profound role in the evolution of the angiosperms. However, there is little evidence of self-incompatibility systems in early diverging lineages of flowering plants. Illicium parviflorum, one such early-divergent angiosperm, is an evergreen perennial species endemic to central Florida, particularly within the Ocala National Forest. Although locally abundant, I. parviflorum is currently listed as endangered at the state level due to being under constant threat of habitat disturbance and over-harvesting. Notably, this species had been described as self-incompatible due to its low seed-set. However, low seed set may also be a result of …