Biology Commons^™

The 14-3-3 (Ywha) Proteins In Mammalian Reproduction, Santanu De

Biology Faculty Articles

The 14-3-3 (YWHA or Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase/Tryptophan 5-Monooxygenase Activation protein) is an acidic and homologous protein family involved in regulation of key biological events including cell cycle, signal transduction and development. They are highly conserved and are expressed ubiquitously across a wide variety of species ranging from plants to animals. Seven isoforms of 14-3-3 exist in mammals, which are encoded by separate genes, have tissue-specific, developmental stage-specific as well as isoform-specific presence and consequences. It is known that these proteins play significant roles in mitosis of mammalian cells and meiosis of amphibians. However, their effects on development and functioning of mammalian …

Does The Presence Of Multiple Β-Lactamases In Gram-Negative Bacilli Impact The Results Of Antimicrobial Susceptibility Tests And Extended-Spectrum Β-Lactamase And Carbapenemase Confirmation Methods?, Fred C. Tenover, Caitlin M. Dela Cruz, Scott Dewell, Victoria M. Le, Isabella A. Tickler

Biology Faculty Publications

Objectives: Many multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacilli (MDR-GNB) harbour multiple β-lactamases. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of multiple β-lactamase carriage on the accuracy of susceptibility tests and extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) and carbapenemase confirmation methods.

Methods: A total of 50 MDR-GNB, of which 29 carried multiple β-lactamases, underwent broth microdilution (BMD) and disk diffusion (DD) testing as well as confirmation tests for ESBLs and carbapenemases. Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) was used for β-lactamase gene identification.

Results: Categorical agreement of BMD and DD testing results ranged from 86.5 to 97.7% for 10 β-lactam agents. BMD and DD algorithms for ESBL …

Are Pangolins Scapegoats Of The Covid-19 Outbreak-Cov Transmission And Pathology Evidence?, Siew Woh Choo, Jinfeng Zhou, Xuechen Tian, Siyuan Zhang, Shen Qiang, Stephen James O'Brien, Ka Yun Tan, Sara Platto, Klaus-Peter Koepfli, Agostinho Antunes, Frankie Thomas Sitam

Biology Faculty Articles

The COVID‐19 outbreak has infected over 6 million people across the world. The origin of COVID‐19 coronavirus (CoV) remains unknown, although pangolins have been suggested as potential hosts. We investigated two pangolins seized in Guangdong Province, China. Molecular screening revealed CoV in one pangolin (“Dahu”), while another (“Meidong”) was infected by Ehrlichia ruminantium. Dahu exhibited difficulty breathing, infections of lung, intestines, and nostrils, as revealed by computed tomography imaging and necropsy. Previous phylogenetic analyses showed bat coronavirus RaTG13 is closer to COVID‐19 CoV compared to pangolin coronavirus. Over 20 caregivers have had close physical contact with CoV‐positive Dahu, but …

Identifying New Markers And Mechanisms Of Mitochondrial Defect During Aging, Catherine Chang

Natural Sciences and Mathematics | Biological Sciences Master's Theses

Mitochondrial dysfunction is a hallmark of aging and has been closely tied to age-related pathologies, such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, neurodegenerative disorders, and metabolic syndromes. Though the consequences of mitochondrial defects are well documented, little is known about the molecular events that occur with age that transform healthy mitochondria into dysfunctional ones. Past studies have attempted to uncover the underlying proteomic changes in age, however, most of these results do not take into account population heterogeneity often associated with aging, thus highlighting the need for single-cell analysis. Technological barriers have impeded in-depth proteomic studies of aging mitochondria on a single …

Tbrap1 Has An Unusual Duplex Dna Binding Activity Required For Its Telomere Localization And Vsg Silencing, Marjia Afrin, Amit Kumar Gaurav, Xian Yang, Xuehua Pan, Yanxiang Zhao, Bibo Li Ph.D.

Biological, Geological, and Environmental Faculty Publications

Localization of Repressor Activator Protein 1 (RAP1) to the telomere is essential for its telomeric functions. RAP1 homologs either directly bind the duplex telomere DNA or interact with telomere-binding proteins. We find that Trypanosoma brucei RAP1 relies on a unique double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) binding activity to achieve this goal. T. brucei causes human sleeping sickness and regularly switches its major surface antigen, variant surface glycoprotein (VSG), to evade the host immune response. VSGs are monoallelically expressed from subtelomeres, and TbRAP1 is essential for VSG regulation. We identify dsDNA and single-stranded DNA binding activities in TbRAP1, which require positively charged 737RKRRR741 …

On Edge Computing For Remote Pathology Consultations And Computations, Alessio Sacco, Flavio Esposito, Guido Marchetto, Grant Kolar, Kate Schwetye

Biological Sciences Faculty Research & Creative Works

Telepathology aims to replace the pathology operations performed on-site, but current systems are limited by their prohibitive cost, or by the adopted underlying technologies. In this work, we contribute to overcoming these limitations by bringing the recent advances of edge computing to reduce latency and increase local computation abilities to the pathology ecosystem. In particular, this paper presents LiveMicro, a system whose benefit is twofold: on one hand, it enables edge computing driven digital pathology computations, such as data-driven image processing on a live capture of the microscope. On the other hand, our system allows remote pathologists to diagnosis in …

Luteolin Induces Cytotoxicity In Mix Cellularity Classical Hodgkin's Lymphoma Via Caspase Activated-Cell Death, Rajendra Gharbaran, Enyuan Shang, Onyekwere Onwumere, Naomi Codrington, Evangelina Dankwa Sarpong, Stephen M. Redenti

Publications and Research

Background/aim: We investigated the effects of luteolin (LUT) on classical Hodgkin's lymphoma (cHL), since such studies in malignant lymphomas are lacking.

Materials and methods: Effect of LUT on cell growth was assessed with water-soluble tetrazolium 1 (WST-1) cell proliferation assay and automated hemocytometry on trypan blue-exclusion assay. Cell death was investigated with acridine orange/ethidium bromide live-dead assay, propidium iodide (PI) flow cytometry, and Annexin-V-PI microscopy. Caspase activation was studied using CellEvent Caspase-3/7 Green detection reagent. High resolution immunofluorescence microscopy was used to detect cleaved-PARP-1.

Results: LUT induced a dose-dependent decrease in the growth of KMH2 and L428 cells, cellular models …

Taxonomic Revision Of Agraphydrus Régimbart , 1903 V. Philippine Species And Their First Dna Barcodes (Coleoptera: Hydrophilidae: Acidocerinae), Hendrik Freitag, Albrecht Komarek

Biology Faculty Publications

The genus Agraphydrus RÉGIMBART , 1903 (Coleoptera: Hydrophilidae) of the Republic of the Philippines is taxonomically reviewed aided by COI mtDNA barcodes. Nine new species are described, all currently regarded as endemic to the Philippines: A. abrasus sp.n., A. ampullatus sp.n., A. batak sp.n., A. brevilobatus sp.n., A. occultus sp.n., A. palawanensis sp.n., A. pelingeni sp.n., A. tenuipalpis sp.n., and A. zetteli sp.n. Agraphydrus coomani (O RCHYMONT , 1927), widespread in the Oriental and Australasian regions, is recorded from the Philippines for the first time. COI sequences and thorough morphological examination suggest that this and further species represent a group …

Analyses Of The Expression, Immunohistochemical Properties And Serodiagnostic Potential Of Schistosoma Japonicum Peroxiredoxin-4, Minh-Anh Dang-Trinh, Jose Ma. M. Angeles, Kharleezelle J. Moendeg, Adrian Miki C. Macalanda, Thu-Thuy Nguyen, Luna Higuchi, Shotaro Nakagun, Masahi Kirinoki, Yuichi Chigusa, Yasuyuki Goto, Shin-Ichiro Kawazu

Biology Faculty Publications

Background

Schistosoma japonicum, which inhabits the mesenteric vein of the mammalian hosts for about 20 to 30 years, is subjected to the oxidative stresses from the host defense mechanism during their intra-mammalian stages. To counteract this host immune attack, the parasite utilizes their antioxidant system for survival inside the host. Peroxiredoxins (Prxs), thiol-specific antioxidant proteins, play an essential role for protecting the parasite against oxidative stress by reducing hydrogen peroxide to water. Only three types of 2-Cys Prxs have been previously characterized in S. japonicum whereas a fourth Prx has been identified for Schistosoma mansoni as Prx-4. A sequence …

Ubc-9 Acts In Gaba Neurons To Control Neuromuscular Signaling In C. Elegans, Victoria A. Kreyden, Elly B. Mawi, Jennifer Kowalski

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Regulation of excitatory to inhibitory signaling balance is essential to nervous system health and is maintained by numerous enzyme systems that modulate the activity, localization, and abundance of synaptic proteins. SUMOylation is a key post-translational regulator of protein function in diverse cells, including neurons. There, its role in regulating synaptic transmission through pre- and postsynaptic effects has been shown primarily at glutamatergic central nervous system synapses, where the sole SUMO-conjugating enzyme Ubc9 is a critical player. However, whether Ubc9 functions globally at other synapses, including inhibitory synapses, has not been explored. Here, we investigated the role of UBC-9 and the …

Sensory Stressors Impact Species Responses Across Local And Continental Scales, Ashley A. Wilson

Master's Theses

Pervasive growth in industrialization and advances in technology now exposes much of the world to anthropogenic night light and noise (ANLN), which pose a global environmental challenge in terrestrial environments. An estimated one-tenth of the planet’s land area experiences artificial light at night — and that rises to 23% if skyglow is included. Moreover, anthropogenic noise is associated with urban development and transportation networks, as the ecological impact of roads alone is estimated to affect one-fifth of the total land cover of the United States and is increasing in space and intensity. Existing research involving impacts of light or noise …

Transgenerational Plasticity Causes Differences In Uv-Tolerance Of Intertidal And Subtidal Populations Of The Purple Sea Urchin, Strongylocentrotus Purpuratus, Yareli Alvarez, Nikki L. Adams

Master's Theses

Planktonic larvae of marine organisms are increasingly being exposed and required to respond to a changing physical environment. Adult sea urchins occupy both intertidal and subtidal waters and broadcast spawn gametes into the water column to contend with variable physical conditions. To answer how populations of invertebrates residing at different depths adequately prepare their offspring to cope with different levels of ultraviolet radiation (UVR), we collected adult purple sea urchins, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus, from four sites (two intertidal and two subtidal (~15 m deep)) on the central coast of CA to compare UV tolerance in offspring. Our measurements of UVA …

Pathways To Social Evolution And Their Evolutionary Feedbacks, Yimen G. Araya-Ajoy, David F. Westneat, Jonathan Wright

Biology Faculty Publications

In the context of social evolution, the ecological drivers of selection are the phenotypes of other individuals. The social environment can thus evolve, potentially changing the adaptive value for different social strategies. Different branches of evolutionary biology have traditionally focused on different aspects of these feedbacks. Here, we synthesize behavioral ecology theory concerning evolutionarily stable strategies when fitness is frequency dependent with quantitative genetic models providing statistical descriptions of evolutionary responses to social selection. Using path analyses, we review how social interactions influence the strength of selection and how social responsiveness, social impact, and non-random social assortment affect responses to …

Rectal Swabs As An Alternative Sample Collection Method To Bulk Stool For The Real-Time Pcr Detection Of Giardia Duodenalis, Jacqueline R.M.A. Maasch, Ahmed M. Arzika, Catherine Cook, Elodie Lebas, Nils Pilotte, Jessica R. Grant, Steven A. Williams, Jeremy D. Keenan, Thomas M. Lietman, Kristen Aiemjoy

Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Though bulk stool remains the gold standard specimen type for enteropathogen diagnosis, rectal swabs may offer comparable sensitivity with greater ease of collection for select pathogens. This study sought to evaluate the validity and reproducibility of rectal swabs as a sample collection method for the molecular diagnosis of Giardia duodenalis. Paired rectal swab and bulk stool samples were collected from 86 children ages 0–4 years living in southwest Niger, with duplicate samples collected among a subset of 50 children. Infection was detected using a previously validated real-time PCR diagnostic targeting the small subunit ribosomal RNA gene. Giardia duodenalis was …

Evolutionary Origins Of Three Rare Alpine-Endemic Species Of Lomatium (Apiaceae) In The Wallowa And Elkhorn Mountains Of Northeastern Oregon, Michael V. Ottenlips, Mary Ann E. Feist, Donald H. Mansfield, Gregory M. Plunkett, Sven Buerki, James F. Smith

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Premise of research. Shared ancestry and convergent/parallel evolution are the two primary causes of morphologically similar species occurring in similar climatic niches. Alpine habitats harbor a unique biodiversity that is often characterized by many convergences in life-forms, such as cushion and rosulate habits. Three species of Lomatium (L. greenmanii, L. erythrocarpum, and L. oreganum) are high-alpine specialists endemic to the Wallowa and Elkhorn Mountains of northeastern Oregon. Earlier studies suggested that two of these species might be sister taxa, but because of the prevalence of convergence in alpine habitats and recent studies that have highlighted …

Long‐Distance Natal Dispersal Is Relatively Frequent And Correlated With Environmental Factors In A Widespread Raptor, Hanna M. Mccaslin, T. Trevor Caughlin, Julie A. Heath

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

1. Dispersal is a critical process influencing population dynamics and responses to global change. Long‐distance dispersal (LDD) can be especially important for gene flow and adaptability, although little is known about the factors influencing LDD because studying large‐scale movements is challenging and LDD tends to be observed less frequently than shorter‐distance dispersal (SDD).
2. We sought to understand patterns of natal dispersal at a large scale, specifically aiming to understand the relative frequency of LDD compared to SDD and correlates of dispersal distances.
3. We used bird banding and encounter data for American kestrels (Falco sparverius) to investigate the effects of …

Behavioral Strategies During Incubation Influence Nest And Female Survival Of Wild Turkeys, Ashley K. Lohr, James A. Martin, Gregory T. Wann, Bradley S. Cohen, Bret A. Collier, Michael J. Chamberlain

Faculty Publications

Females must balance physiological and behavioral demands of producing offspring with associated expenditures, such as resource acquisition and predator avoidance. Nest success is an important parameter underlying avian population dynamics. Galliforms are particularly susceptible to low nest success due to exposure of ground nests to multiple predator guilds, lengthy incubation periods, and substantive reliance on crypsis for survival. Hence, it is plausible that nesting individuals prioritize productivity and survival differently, resulting in a gradient of reproductive strategies. Fine-scale movement patterns during incubation are not well documented in ground-nesting birds, and the influence of reproductive movements on survival is largely unknown. …

Phyr: Anrpackage For Phylogenetic Species-Distribution Modelling In Ecological Communities, Daijiang Li, Russell Dinnage, Lucas A. Nell, Matthew R. Helmus, Anthony Ives

Faculty Publications

Model-based approaches are increasingly popular in ecological studies. A good example of this trend is the use of joint species distribution models to ask questions about ecological communities. However, most current applications of model-based methods do not include phylogenies despite the well-known importance of phylogenetic relationships in shaping species distributions and community composition. In part, this is due to a lack of accessible tools allowing ecologists to fit phylogenetic species distribution models easily. To fill this gap, therpackagephyr(pronounced fire) implements a suite of metrics, comparative methods and mixed models that use phylogenies to understand and predict community composition and other …

The Defining Genomic And Predicted Metabolic Features Of The Acetobacterium Genus, Daniel E. Ross, Christopher Marshall, Djuna Gulliver, Harold D. May, R. Sean Norman

Biological Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Acetogens are anaerobic bacteria capable of fixing CO₂ or CO to produce acetyl coenzyme A (acetyl-CoA) and ultimately acetate using the Wood-Ljungdahl pathway (WLP). Acetobacterium woodii is the type strain of the Acetobacterium genus and has been critical for understanding the biochemistry and energy conservation in acetogens. Members of the Acetobacterium genus have been isolated from a variety of environments or have had genomes recovered from metagenome data, but no systematic investigation has been done on the unique and various metabolisms of the genus. To gain a better appreciation for the metabolic breadth of the genus, we sequenced the …

Great Lakes Snake: Estimating The Occupancy And Detection Probabilities Of The Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake (Sistrurus Catenatus), Arin June Thacker

Masters Theses

Detailed knowledge of a species’ range and distribution is important for understanding species persistence and developing species management plans. This issue is particularly pronounced in threatened species with wide-spread range and a low detectability in their natural environment, as surveying and successfully encountering this type of species is oftentimes difficult. One such species is the eastern massasauga rattlesnake (Sistrurus catenatus), a smallbodied pit viper with a distribution centered around the Great Lakes region. We used singleseason occupancy modeling in order to reassess the status of historic massasauga occurrences. We evaluated factors affecting eastern massasauga detection probability from a …

Parasitic Infection Surveillance In Mississippi Delta Children, Richard S. Bradbury, Irene Arguello, Meredith Lane, Gretchen Cooley, Sukwan Handali, Silvia D. Dimitrova, Fernanda S. Nascimento, Sam Jameson, Kathryn Hellmann, Michelle Tharp, Paul Byers, Susan P. Montgomery, Lisa Haynie, Brian Kirmse, Nils Pilotte, Steven A. Williams, Charlotte V. Hobbs

Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Some recent studies suggest ongoing transmission of parasitic diseases in the American South; however, surveys in Mississippi children are lacking. We enrolled 166 children (median age 8 years, range 4–13 years) from the Mississippi Delta region and carried out multi-parallel real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for Necator americanus, Ascaris lumbricoides, and Strongyloides stercoralis on their stool samples. Dried blood spots were obtained for multiplex serology antibody detection. Of 166 children, all reported having flushable toilets, 11% had soil exposure, and 34% had a pet dog or cat. None had prior diagnosis or treatment of parasitic disease. Multi-parallel real-time PCRs were …

The Influence Of Riparian Invasion By The Terrestrial Shrub Lonicera Maackii On Aquatic Macroinvertebrates In Temperate Forest Headwater Streams, Michelle N. Little, Kevin W. Custer, Eric B. Borth, Julia I. Chapman, Mitchell J. Kukla, Corey Kuminecz, Margaret E. Maloney, Michaela J. Woods, Ryan Mcewan

Biology Faculty Publications

The ecology of headwater streams is tightly linked to the riparian zone through organic matter subsidies which are highly susceptible to alteration due to biological invasion. Lonicera maackii is a non-native shrub that is a highly successful invader of headwater stream riparian zones in the American Midwest. We assessed effects on benthic macroinvertebrates across a gradient of invasion intensity from references sites with minimal invasion to a site that had a very heavy invasion. Benthic macroinvertebrates were sampled throughout the year and compositional differences were assessed using Non-metric Multidimensional Scaling ordination, and by comparing the prevalence of sensitive (Ephemeroptera, Plectoptera, …

The Actin Cytoskeletal Network Plays A Role In Yeast Prion Transmission And Contributes To Prion Stability, Jane E. Dorweiler, Mitchell J. Oddo, Douglas R. Lyke, Jacob A. Reilly, Brett T. Wisniewski, Emily E. Davis, Abigail M. Kuborn, Stephen J. Merrill, Anita L. Manogaran

Biological Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Chaperone networks are required for the shearing and generation of transmissible propagons from pre‐existing prion aggregates. However, other cellular networks needed for maintaining yeast prions are largely uncharacterized. Here, we establish a novel role for actin networks in prion maintenance. The [PIN ⁺] prion, also known as [RNQ ⁺], exists as stable variants dependent upon the chaperone machinery for the transmission of propagons to daughter cells during cell division and cytoplasmic transfer. Loss of the Hsp104 molecular chaperone leads to the growth of prion particles until they are too large to be transmitted. Here, we isolated …

Quantifying Species Traits Related To Oviposition Behavior And Offspring Survival In Two Important Disease Vectors, Donald A. Yee, William C. Glasgow, Nnaemeka F. Ezeakacha

Faculty Publications

Animals with complex life cycles have traits related to oviposition and juvenile survival that can respond to environmental factors in similar or dissimilar ways. We examined the preference-performance hypothesis (PPH), which states that females lacking parental care select juvenile habitats that maximize fitness, for two ubiquitous mosquito species, Aedes albopictus and Culex quinquefasciatus. Specifically, we examined if environmental factors known to affect larval abundance patterns in the field played a role in the PPH for these species. We first identified important environmental factors from a field survey that predicted larvae across different spatial scales. We then performed two experiments, …

Complete Genome Sequence Of Microcystis Aeruginosa Fd4, Isolated From A Subtropical River In Southwest Florida, Hidetoshi Urakawa, Taylor L. Hancock, Jacob H. Steele, Elizabeth K. Dahedl, Haruka E. Urakawa, Luka K. Ndungu, Lauren E. Krausfeldt, Barry H. Rosen, Jose V. Lopez

Biology Faculty Articles

We report the first complete genome of Microcystis aeruginosa from North America. A harmful bloom that occurred in the Caloosahatchee River in 2018 led to a state of emergency declaration in Florida. Although strain FD4 was isolated from this toxic bloom, the genome did not have a microcystin biosynthetic gene cluster.

Recognition Of An Α-Helical Hairpin In P22 Large Terminase By A Synthetic Antibody Fragment., Ravi K Lokareddy, Ying Hui Ko, Nathaniel Hong, Steven G Doll, Marcin Paduch, Michael Niederweis, Anthony A Kossiakoff, Gino Cingolani

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Faculty Papers

The genome-packaging motor of tailed bacteriophages and herpesviruses is a multisubunit protein complex formed by several copies of a large (TerL) and a small (TerS) terminase subunit. The motor assembles transiently at the portal protein vertex of an empty precursor capsid to power the energy-dependent packaging of viral DNA. Both the ATPase and nuclease activities associated with genome packaging reside in TerL. Structural studies of TerL from bacteriophage P22 have been hindered by the conformational flexibility of this enzyme and its susceptibility to proteolysis. Here, an unbiased, synthetic phage-display Fab library was screened and a panel of high-affinity Fabs against …

The Negative Effect Of Lianas On Tree Growth Varies With Tree Species And Season, Alejandro Venegas-Gonzalez, Felipe N. A. Mello, Stefan A. Schnitzer, Ricardo G. Cesar, Mario Tomazello-Filho

Biological Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Lianas reduce tree growth, reproduction, and survival in tropical forests. Liana competition can be particularly intense in isolated forest fragments, where liana densities are high, and thus, host tree infestation is common. Furthermore, lianas appear to grow particularly well during seasonal drought, when they may compete particularly intensely with trees. Few studies, however, have experimentally quantified the seasonal effects of liana competition on multiple tree species in tropical forests. We used a liana removal experiment in a forest fragment in southeastern Brazil to test whether the effects of lianas on tree growth vary with season and tree species identity. We …

Best Practices For Successfully Writing And Publishing A Genome Announcement In Microbiology Resource Announcements, Julie C. Dunning Hotopp, David A. Baltrus, Vincent M. Bruno, John J. Dennehy, Steven R. Gill, Julia A. Maresca, Jelle Matthijnssens, Irene L. J. Newton, Catherine Putonti, David A. Rasko, Antonis Rokas, Simon Roux, Jason E. Stajich, Kenneth M. Stedman, Frank J. Stewart, J. Cameron Thrash

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Microbiology Resource Announcements (MRA) provides peer-reviewed announcements of scientific resources for the microbial research community. We describe the best practices for writing an announcement that ensures that these publications are truly useful resources. Adhering to these best practices can lead to successful publication without the need for extensive revisions.

Student Preclass Preparation By Both Reading The Textbook And Watching Videos Online Improves Exam Performance In A Partially Flipped Course, Kaleb Bassett, Gayla R. Olbricht, Katie Shannon

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Research & Creative Works

The flipped classroom has the potential to improve student performance. Because flipping involves both preclass preparation and problem solving in the classroom, the means by which increased learning occurs and whether the method of delivering content matters is of interest. In a partially flipped cell biology course, students were assigned online videos before the flipped class and textbook reading before lectures. Low-stakes assessments were used to incentivize both types of preclass preparation. We hypothesized that more students would watch the videos than read the textbook and that both types of preparation would positively affect exam performance. A multiple linear regression …

Evolution Of Breeding Plumages In Birds: A Multiple-Step Pathway To Seasonal Dichromatism In New World Warblers (Aves: Parulidae), Ryan S. Terrill, Glenn F. Seeholzer, Jared D. Wolfe

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd Many species of birds show distinctive seasonal breeding and nonbreeding plumages. A number of hypotheses have been proposed for the evolution of this seasonal dichromatism, specifically related to the idea that birds may experience variable levels of sexual selection relative to natural selection throughout the year. However, these hypotheses have not addressed the selective forces that have shaped molt, the underlying mechanism of plumage change. Here, we examined relationships between life-history variation, the evolution of a seasonal molt, and seasonal plumage dichromatism in the New World warblers (Aves: Parulidae), a …