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Full-Text Articles in Biodiversity
The Community Ecology Of Ants On The Cumberland Plateau And A Taxonomic Redescription Of The Genus Stenamma Westwood, 1839 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Myrmicinae) In A Southeastern Treatment, Zachary Brown
Theses and Dissertations
Grassland communities represent major biodiversity hotspots across the United States. Among these grassland types is the short-leaf pine savanna, a major historical habitat along the Cumberland Plateau. The Cumberland Plateau’s grasslands are under threat due to land use changes such as urbanization and land conversion to pasture and hardwood forests. This study seeks to better understand the community ecology of ants on the Cumberland Plateau using powerlines as a comparison to degraded and historic habitats. Ants have a preference between open sites and forested sites, a separation of 44.5% on a DCA. The Simpson diversity places the short-leaf pine savanna …
Taxonomy And Systematics Of The New Zealand Pselaphini (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Pselaphinae), Brittany Elin Owens
Taxonomy And Systematics Of The New Zealand Pselaphini (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Pselaphinae), Brittany Elin Owens
LSU Doctoral Dissertations
The New Zealand (NZ) Pselaphini was revised at the species level, a phylogenetic analysis was performed using morphological data, and first steps were taken towards the construction of a molecular analysis of the tribe. Eight new genera and 33 new species were discovered from specimens collected from the NZ mainland, offshore islands, Chatham Islands and the Subantarctic Islands. Of the 13 species originally described in the genus Pselaphus by Thomas Broun during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, all were either reassigned to the genera Pselaphaulax and Pselaphogenius, or were placed into new genera. Three names …
Can Increasing Grass-Fungal Endophyte Symbiotic Diversity Enhance Grassland Ecosystem Functioning?, Mahtaab Bagherzadeh
Can Increasing Grass-Fungal Endophyte Symbiotic Diversity Enhance Grassland Ecosystem Functioning?, Mahtaab Bagherzadeh
Theses and Dissertations--Plant and Soil Sciences
The relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning is important in maintaining agroecosystem sustainability. Plant-microbe symbioses, such as exists between the grass tall fescue (Schedonorus arundinaceum) and the asexual fungal endophyte Epichloë coenophiala, can be utilized to enhance agroecosystem functions, such as herbivore resistance. “Novel” E. coenophiala strains that vary in the production of mammal- and insect-toxic compounds have been identified, inserted into tall fescue cultivars, and are planted in pastures globally. Novel fungal endophyte-tall fescue associations may have divergent ecosystem function effects. This study assessed effects of different fescue-endophyte symbiotic combinations on pasture ecosystem function, including aboveground …
Tropical Trees As Islands: Diversity Accumulation Of Armored Scale Insects (Hemiptera: Diaspididae) On Trees As A Function Of Forest Age, Hannah Shapiro
Tropical Trees As Islands: Diversity Accumulation Of Armored Scale Insects (Hemiptera: Diaspididae) On Trees As A Function Of Forest Age, Hannah Shapiro
Undergraduate Honors Theses
Armored scale insects (Hemiptera: Diaspididae) are some of the most invasive insects in the world. These cryptic plant parasites are most often encountered in managed agricultural ecosystems, but very little is known about their distribution, abundance, and diversity in tropical rainforest canopies, where they are likely to have their highest diversity. Because these ubiquitous insects are extreme generalists with undirected dispersal, their diversity (alpha and beta) accumulation can conceivably be modeled according to tenets derived from island biogeography theory. For example, one expectation is that older established trees should boast a higher species diversity and abundance than younger ones. Other …
A Taxonomic Revision Of The New World Hypoponera Santschi, 1938 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), Shawn Thomas Dash
A Taxonomic Revision Of The New World Hypoponera Santschi, 1938 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), Shawn Thomas Dash
Open Access Theses & Dissertations
The New World taxa of the pantropic ant genus Hypoponera (Ponerinae: Ponerini) is revised for the first time. The 55 previously recognized taxa have been evaluated using morphological and, when possible, ecological and biogeographical data to resolve taxon validity and species limits. Currently I recognize 42 species of Hypoponera , a number of which are new. I propose the following taxonomic outline: Hypoponera agilis (Borgmeier), Hypoponera aliena (F. Smith), Hypoponera antoniensis (Forel) stat. nov., Hypoponera apateae sp. nov., Hypoponera capilosa sp. nov., Hypoponera clinei sp. nov., Hypoponera clavatula (Emery) [= fiebrigi (Forel) syn. nov., = neglecta (Santschi) syn. nov.], Hypoponera …