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Full-Text Articles in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Parental Effects On Offspring Reaction Norms: Consequences For Complex Phenotypes In Variable Environments, Alexandra G. Cones
Parental Effects On Offspring Reaction Norms: Consequences For Complex Phenotypes In Variable Environments, Alexandra G. Cones
Theses and Dissertations--Biology
Organismal traits all exhibit some degree of environmental sensitivity, and both the strength and direction of these phenotypically plastic responses to the environment can evolve in adaptive ways. For example, parents can use information about their own environment to precondition the traits of their offspring so that they thrive in their future environment. This transgenerational plasticity can also alter the plasticity of offspring, but explicit investigations of this specific phenomenon are rare. I begin with a review of the literature and provide a quantitative genetic framework to investigate this phenomenon, which I then explore empirically using avian embryos. The metabolic …
Functional Trade-Offs Between Terrestrial And Aquatic Locomotion In The Amphibious Fish Kryptolebias Marmoratus, Erik Axlid
All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects
The mangrove rivulus (Kryptolebias marmoratus) is a phenotypically plastic teleost fish that can spend considerable time on land and traverse the terrestrial realm through a ballistic behavior termed the tail-flip jump. The tail-flip jump is a transitional stage between fully aquatic and terrestrial lifestyles. Therefore, understanding this behavior can provide insight into how organisms adapt to new environments over evolutionary time. Taxa that are successful tail-flip jumpers have a deep caudal peduncle and uniform body shape. Studies of K. marmoratus show that terrestrial acclimation and exercise improves tail-flip jumping performance due to muscle remodeling, but the implications of these muscular …
Diel Vertical Migration Of An Invasive Calanoid Copepod, Eurytemora Affinis, In Little Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, Alexandra N. Poli
Diel Vertical Migration Of An Invasive Calanoid Copepod, Eurytemora Affinis, In Little Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, Alexandra N. Poli
Lawrence University Honors Projects
Eurytemora affinis, a calanoid copepod, is known to be a versatile, prolific invader of freshwater ecosystems across the globe. It has recently been documented in the Laurentian Great Lakes, including in Little Sturgeon Bay, an embayment of Lake Michigan. One survival mechanism that could make E. affinis a successful invader is diel vertical migration (DVM), a behavior in which animals move to different lakes depths at different times of day in order to avoid predation. Much is known about DVM of E. affinis, but primarily from studies in marine and brackish systems. Our goal was to investigate how …
Parasitoid Infestation Changes Female Mating Preferences, Oliver M. Beckers, William E. Wagner
Parasitoid Infestation Changes Female Mating Preferences, Oliver M. Beckers, William E. Wagner
School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications
Females often adjust their mating preference to environmental and social conditions. This plasticity of preference can be adaptive for females and can have important consequences for the evolution of male traits. While predation and parasitism are widespread, their effects on female preferences have rarely been investigated. Females of the cricket Gryllus lineaticeps are parasitized by the parasitoid fly Ormia ochracea. Infestation with fly larvae substantially reduces female life span and thus reproductive opportunities of the cricket. Both female G. lineaticeps and flies orient to male song and both prefer male songs with faster chirp rates to songs with slower chirp …