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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Using Community Science To Assess The Effect Of Wing Pattern And Weather On Butterfly Behavior, Abbigail Merrill May 2022

Using Community Science To Assess The Effect Of Wing Pattern And Weather On Butterfly Behavior, Abbigail Merrill

Animal Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Signaling in insects is used as communication and for attraction of mates. The physical appearance of the insect as well as conditions such as weather can play a role in visual signaling, by influencing the wavelengths of light available, and subsequent signal detection. We do not know, however, whether signals butterflies present broadly correlate with how they behave. In this study, we looked at the wing patterns and behavior of butterflies in Northwest Arkansas over a 3.5-year period to assess the relationship between wing pattern, weather, and behavior. We used observational data collected by hundreds of University of Arkansas students …


Summer To Autumn Population Of Wild Eumaeus Atala On The Ft. Lauderdale Campus Of Nova Southeastern University, Alexandra M. Lens Aug 2021

Summer To Autumn Population Of Wild Eumaeus Atala On The Ft. Lauderdale Campus Of Nova Southeastern University, Alexandra M. Lens

Mako: NSU Undergraduate Student Journal

Eumaeus atala is an endangered tropical butterfly native to the Caribbean and some parts of Florida, USA. Following population reductions primarily due to habitat loss, E. atala populations are now increasing due to conservation efforts of its cycad host plants, especially Zamia integrifolia (coontie). The purpose of this study was to observe, document, and measure the population of wild E. atala on the Ft. Lauderdale, Florida campus of Nova Southeastern University where landscaping use of host plants supports a natural population of E. atala. Forty-four host plants located in two different sites were observed for 14 weeks. One site …


Fine-Scale Morphological Divergence Of Wing Trait Variables In Highly Fragmented Populations Of The Bog Copper Butterfly (Lycaena Epixanthe), Jessica L. T. Jeong Aug 2021

Fine-Scale Morphological Divergence Of Wing Trait Variables In Highly Fragmented Populations Of The Bog Copper Butterfly (Lycaena Epixanthe), Jessica L. T. Jeong

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Habitat fragmentation can adversely affect animal and plant species through subdividing their natural habitats into smaller, more isolated patches. Oftentimes, these isolated groups are subject to reduced dispersal and gene flow, leading to genetic divergence and, consequently, morphological divergence among populations. This study aims to quantify the morphological divergence of the bog copper butterfly, Lycaena epixanthe, between nine isolated bog sites in Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, via seven quantitative morphological traits in their wing pattern. Statistical analyses demonstrate significant differences in wing trait measurements between populations. As bog coppers are small, weak fliers with a strict host-plant dependency, it …


Incorporating Temperature And Precipitation Extremes Into Process-Based Models Of African Lepidoptera Changes The Predicted Distribution Under Climate Change, Madeleine G. Barton, John S. Terblanche, Brent J. Sinclair Feb 2019

Incorporating Temperature And Precipitation Extremes Into Process-Based Models Of African Lepidoptera Changes The Predicted Distribution Under Climate Change, Madeleine G. Barton, John S. Terblanche, Brent J. Sinclair

Biology Publications

Terrestrial insects are responding to ongoing climate change. While these responses have been primarily linked to rising temperatures, insects are sensitive to desiccation, and the impacts of altered precipitation regimes remain relatively unexplored. Here, we develop a mechanistic model of survival and performance responses to both temperature and desiccation stress, focussing on Lepidoptera in Africa, where a general understanding of such responses to climate change is urgently required. We run the model with climate data from general circulation models at daily time intervals under current (2011–2015) and projected future (2046–2050) climate scenarios. We first simulate four hypothetical, but typical, Lepidoptera …


Assessing Landscape Effects On Genetics And Dispersal Of The Rocky Mountain Apollo Butterfly Parnassius Smintheus Using A Resistance Mapping Approach, Ning Chen Oct 2017

Assessing Landscape Effects On Genetics And Dispersal Of The Rocky Mountain Apollo Butterfly Parnassius Smintheus Using A Resistance Mapping Approach, Ning Chen

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Landscape variables that best explain genetic differentiation may not also best explain dispersal patterns, but many studies use genetic differentiation as a proxy for dispersal. I tested the effects of landscape on both genetic differentiation and dispersal in parallel, to explore whether landscape effects on genetic differentiation between populations and landscape effects on dispersal would be comparable in such contexts. I used circuit theory (Circuitscape) and least cost transect analysis to evaluate the effects of landscape on both movement and genetic differentiation of the butterfly, Parnassius smintheus, in the Jumpingpound Ridge study system. Circuit theory and least cost transect …


Range Collapse, Genetic Differentiation, And Climate Change: An Ecological History Of The Diana Fritillary, Speyeria Diana And Projections For Its Future, Carrie Wells May 2014

Range Collapse, Genetic Differentiation, And Climate Change: An Ecological History Of The Diana Fritillary, Speyeria Diana And Projections For Its Future, Carrie Wells

All Dissertations

The geographic ranges of most plant and animal species are tied closely to climatic factors, including temperature, precipitation, and soil moisture. For this reason, recent changes in the global climate due to human activities are predicted to have profound effects on natural populations, communities and ecosystems over a relatively short period of time. Combined effects from global warming and other anthropogenic activities such as land-use changes, pollution, and habitat loss/fragmentation, are altering species' distributions faster than they can be documented. Recent climate change has also been shown to alter species' breeding behaviors and alter the synchrony and timing of species' …


Transcendental Thermodynamics, Richard E. Morel, George Fleck Jun 2012

Transcendental Thermodynamics, Richard E. Morel, George Fleck

Kahn Institute Projects

Thermodynamics is often viewed as a narrow, introspective discipline, trapped by its origins in the 18th and 19th centuries. By dramatic contrast, we show that the Fourth Law of Thermodynamics provides explanations and interpretations of all natural events, extending across artificial boundaries of tradition- al academic disciplines. The Fourth Law of Thermodynamics states that far-from-equilibrium systems increase entropy at the maximum rate available to them. This broadly inclusive paradigm applies to systems from molecules, to organisms, to the biosphere. The Fourth Law is the Law of Evolution. All systems that communicate with their environment exhibit self-organization and self-optimization, enabling the …


Spermatogenesis Of The Butterfly, Papilio Rutulus, John P. Munson Jan 1906

Spermatogenesis Of The Butterfly, Papilio Rutulus, John P. Munson

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

For a number of years I have been studying the spermatogenesis of Papilio rutulus (pl. 12, fig. 1) not ,with any one single problem especially in view, but with the aim of ascertaining the entire life history of its sperm cell, its various phases of development, its mode of growth and differentiation, the history of its several parts, and its relation to the organism.