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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Testing The Climatic Variability Hypothesis With Coastal And Inland Populations Of Mimulus Guttatus And Implications For These Populations Under Climate Change, Alec Chiono
Master's Theses
How climate shapes the niche of a species is a core interest in evolution and ecology. Research on the evolution of climatic niches can inform us on the historical relationship between organisms and their climate, and, in an era of great environmental change, what that relationship may look like in the future. In this study, I tested an essential idea in the history of climate niche research, the Climatic Variability Hypothesis, by comparing the thermal niche breadth of coastal and inland populations of Mimulus guttatus. Using thermal performance results from this experiment, I also forecasted how the suitability of …
Phylogenetics, Biogeography, And Climate Niche Variation Of South Pacific And Hawaiian Psychotria, Elaine Zhang
Phylogenetics, Biogeography, And Climate Niche Variation Of South Pacific And Hawaiian Psychotria, Elaine Zhang
Master's Theses
Why do some species have broad geographic distributions, while other species are confined to a narrow distribution? Species age, ecological niche, or dispersal traits may help explain why some insular species are abundant and found on many islands, while others are rare and restricted to one island. In this study, I inferred a robust, time-calibrated phylogeny of the Hawaiian Psychotria, using two nuclear and eight chloroplast loci, sampling 67 individuals. I coupled my phylogenetic hypothesis with climatic data, ecological niche modeling, and morphological dispersal characteristics to explain the variation in number of islands occupied by each species. My inferred phylogeny …