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Articles 1 - 6 of 6
Full-Text Articles in Biology
Extensive Clonal Spread And Extreme Longevity In Saw Palmetto, A Foundation Clonal Plant, Mizuki K. Takahashi, Liana M. Horner, Toshiro Kubota, Nathan A. Keller, Warren G. Abrahamson Ii
Extensive Clonal Spread And Extreme Longevity In Saw Palmetto, A Foundation Clonal Plant, Mizuki K. Takahashi, Liana M. Horner, Toshiro Kubota, Nathan A. Keller, Warren G. Abrahamson Ii
Warren G. Abrahamson, II
The lack of effective tools has hampered our ability to assess the size, growth and ages of clonal plants. With Serenoa repens (saw palmetto) as a model, we introduce a novel analytical frame work that integrates DNA fingerprinting and mathematical modelling to simulate growth and estimate ages of clonal plants. We also demonstrate the application of such life-history information of clonal plants to provide insight into management plans. Serenoa is an ecologically important foundation species in many Southeastern United States ecosystems; yet, many land managers consider Serenoa a troublesome invasive plant. Accordingly, management plans have been developed to reduce or …
Adaptation As Process: The Future Of Darwinism And The Legacy Of Theodosius Dobzhansky, David Depew
Adaptation As Process: The Future Of Darwinism And The Legacy Of Theodosius Dobzhansky, David Depew
David J Depew
Conceptions of adaptation have varied in the history of genetic Darwinism depending on whether what is taken to be focal is the process of adaptation, adapted states of populations, or discrete adaptations in individual organisms. I argue that Theodosius Dobzhansky’s view of adaptation as a dynamical process contrasts with so-called “adaptationist” views of natural selection figured as “design-without-a-designer” of relatively discrete, enumerable adaptations. Correlated with these respectively process and product oriented approaches to adaptive natural selection are divergent pictures of organisms themselves as developmental wholes or as “bundles” of adaptations. While even process versions of genetical Darwinism are insufficiently sensitive …
Detection And Characterization Of A Distinct Bornavirus Lineage From Healthy Canada Geese (Branta Canadensis), John A. Baroch
Detection And Characterization Of A Distinct Bornavirus Lineage From Healthy Canada Geese (Branta Canadensis), John A. Baroch
John A Baroch
Avian bornaviruses (ABV), identified in 2008, infect captive parrots and macaws worldwide. The natural reservoirs of these viruses are unknown. Reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) was used to screen oropha- ryngeal/cloacal swab and brain samples from wild Canada geese (Branta canadensis) for ABV. Approximately 2.9% of swab samples were positive for bornavirus sequences. Fifty-two percent of brain samples from 2 urban flocks also tested positive, and brain isolates were cultured in duck embryo fibroblasts. Phylogenetic analyses placed goose isolates in an independent cluster, and more notably, important regulatory sequences present in Borna disease virus but lacking in psittacine ABVs were present in …
Plant-Animal Interactions, W. Abrahamson, T. Taylor
Plant-Animal Interactions, W. Abrahamson, T. Taylor
Warren G. Abrahamson, II
No abstract provided.
Locomotor Loading Mechanics In The Hindlimbs Of Tegu Lizards (Tupinambis Merianae): Comparative And Evolutionary Implications, K. Megan Sheffield, Michael T. Butcher, S. Katharine Shugart, Jennifer C. Gander, Richard W. Blob
Locomotor Loading Mechanics In The Hindlimbs Of Tegu Lizards (Tupinambis Merianae): Comparative And Evolutionary Implications, K. Megan Sheffield, Michael T. Butcher, S. Katharine Shugart, Jennifer C. Gander, Richard W. Blob
Megan Sheffield
Skeletal elements are usually able to withstand several times their usual load before they yield, and this ratio is known as the bone’s safety factor. Limited studies on amphibians and non-avian reptiles have shown that they have much higher limb bone safety factors than birds and mammals. It has been hypothesized that this difference is related to the difference in posture between upright birds and mammals and sprawling ectotherms; however, limb bone loading data from a wider range of sprawling species are needed in order to determine whether the higher safety factors seen in amphibians and non-avian reptiles are ancestral …
Loading Mechanics Of The Femur In Tiger Salamanders (Ambystoma Tigrinum) During Terrestrial Locomotion, K. Megan Sheffield, Richard W. Blob
Loading Mechanics Of The Femur In Tiger Salamanders (Ambystoma Tigrinum) During Terrestrial Locomotion, K. Megan Sheffield, Richard W. Blob
Megan Sheffield
Salamanders are often used as representatives of the basal tetrapod body plan in functional studies, but little is known about the loads experienced by their limb bones during locomotion. Although salamanders’ slow walking speeds might lead to low locomotor forces and limb bone stresses similar to those of non-avian reptiles, their highly sprawled posture combined with relatively small limb bones could produce elevated limb bone stresses closer to those of avian and mammalian species. This study evaluates the loads on the femur of the tiger salamander (Ambystoma tigrinum) during terrestrial locomotion using three- dimensional measurements of the ground reaction force …