Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons^™

The Emergence Of Sex, Ursula Goodenough

Biology Faculty Publications & Presentations

Biological traits, the foci of natural selection, are by definition emergent from the genes, proteins, and other “nothing-buts” that constitute them. Moreover, and with the exception of recently emergent “spandrels,” each can be accorded a teleological dimension—each is “for” some purpose conducive to an organism's continuation. Sex, which is “for” the generation of recombinant genomes, may be one of the most ancient and ubiquitous traits in biology. In the course of its evolution, many additional traits, such as gender and nurture, have emerged. Patterns of sexual exchange are the basis for patterns of biological evolution and are central to the …

Simpler Mode Of Inheritance Of Transcriptional Variation In Male Drosophila Melanogaster, Marta Wayne, Marina Telonis-Scott, Lisa Bono, Lawrence G. Harshman, Artyom Kopp, Sergey V. Nuzhdin, Lauren Mcintyre

Lawrence G. Harshman Publications

Sexual selection drives faster evolution in males. The X chromosome is potentially an important target for sexual selection, because hemizygosity in males permits accumulation of alleles, causing tradeoffs in fitness between sexes. Hemizygosity of the X could cause fundamentally different modes of inheritance between the sexes, with more additive variation in males and more nonadditive variation in females. Indeed, we find that genetic variation for the transcriptome is primarily additive in males but nonadditive in females. As expected, these differences are more pronounced on the X chromosome than the autosomes, but autosomal loci are also affected, possibly because of X-linked …

The Origins Of Shared Intuitions Of Justice, Paul H. Robinson, Robert O. Kurzban, Owen D. Jones

All Faculty Scholarship

Contrary to the common wisdom among criminal law scholars, the empirical evidence reveals that people's intuitions of justice are often specific, nuanced, and widely shared. Indeed, with regard to the core harms and evils to which criminal law addresses itself – physical aggression, takings without consent, and deception in transactions – the shared intuitions are stunningly consistent, across cultures as well as demographics. It is puzzling that judgments of moral blameworthiness, which seem so complex and subjective, reflect such a remarkable consensus. What could explain this striking result? The authors theorize that one explanation may be an evolved predisposition toward …

The Beasts In Our Brain, Neil Greenberg

Faculty Publications and Other Works -- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

In the neuropsychology of art, we must remember that the Brain of Man has not abandoned its ancient animal foundations, it has built upon them . . . . But it has also reconstructed them as the shifting earth beneath dictates . . . . We have done the best possible in the landscape in which we have found ourselves with the raw materials we have inherited." --(Greenberg, Prolegomena to a Study of Mind, 1973, ch. 42)

One Nation, Under … The Watchmaker?: Intelligent Design And The Establishment Clause, Nicholas A. Shuneman

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

No abstract provided.

Does Increasing Biology Teacher Knowledge Of Evolution And The Nature Of Science Lead To Greater Advocacy For The Teaching Of Evolution In Schools?, Ross Nehm, Irvin Sam Schonfeld

Publications and Research

This study investigated whether or not an increase in secondary science teacher knowledge about evolution and the nature of science gained from completing a graduate-level evolution course was associated with greater preference for the teaching of evolution in schools. Forty-four precertified secondary biology teachers participated in a 14-week intervention designed to address documented misconceptions identified by a precourse instrument. The course produced statistically significant gains in teacher knowledge of evolution and the nature of science and a significant decrease in misconceptions about evolution and natural selection. Nevertheless, teachers' postcourse preference positions remained unchanged; the majority of science teachers still preferred …

Origins And Mariner 10 (Faith & Science Update), John T. Baldwin

Perspective Digest

No abstract provided.

The Effect Of Male And Female Body Size On Mating Behavior Of Male Fairy Shrimp, Eubranchipus Neglectus, Craig Feigenbaum, Paul V. Switzer

Paul V. Switzer

We studied size-related mating patterns in the freshwater fairy shrimp Eubranchipus neglectus in the laboratory. Males were provided with relatively small or large females that they could only sense by vision. We recorded the number of times a male pursued the female (“follows”), the duration of these follows, and the number of times a male attempted to grasp the female. Relatively large males performed more mating behavior than relatively small males. Furthermore, males (regardless of their own size) exhibited more mating behavior towards large than small females. They followed large females more frequently, attempted to grasp large females more often, …

The Cynipoid Genus Paramblynotus: Revision, Phylogeny, And Historical Biogeography (Hymenoptera, Liopteridae), Zhiwei Liu, Fredrik Ronquist, Goeran Nordlander

Zhiwei Liu

The genus Paramblynotus is the most species-rich genus of the so-called macrocynipoids, the large cynipoid parasitoids of wood-boring and cone-boring insect larvae. The species range in size from some of the largest to the smallest macrocynipoids, comparable in size to microcynipoids. Paramblynotus members occur on all continents except Europe and Australia, with most species being tropical or subtropical. The biology is poorly known but a few observations indicate that the species are parasitoids of beetle larvae. In this monographic revision of the genus, we present a species-level cladistic analysis based on qualitative and quantitative features of the external morphology. For …

Ocpat: An Online Codon-Preserved Alignment Tool For Evolutionary Genomic Analysis Of Protein Coding Sequences, Guozhen Liu, Monica Uddin, Munirul Islam, Morris Goodman, Lawrence I. Grossman, Roberto Romero, Derek E. Wildman

Wayne State University Associated BioMed Central Scholarship

Abstract

Background

Rapidly accumulating genome sequence data from multiple species offer powerful opportunities for the detection of DNA sequence evolution. Phylogenetic tree construction and codon-based tests for natural selection are the prevailing tools used to detect functionally important evolutionary change in protein coding sequences. These analyses often require multiple DNA sequence alignments that maintain the correct reading frame for each collection of putative orthologous sequences. Since this feature is not available in most alignment tools, codon reading frames often must be checked manually before evolutionary analyses can commence.

Results

Here we report an online codon-preserved alignment tool (OCPAT) that generates …

Ontogenetic Change In Novel Functions: Waterfall Climbing In Adult Hawaiian Gobiid Fishes, R Blob, K Wright, M Becker, T Maie, T Iverson, M Julius, H Schoenfuss

Megan Sheffield

Juveniles from three species of Hawaiian gobiid fishes climb waterfalls as part of an amphidromous life cycle, allowing them to re-penetrate adult upstream habitats after being swept out to the ocean upon hatching. The importance of climbing for juvenile stream gobies is well established, but adult fish in upstream island habitats also face potential downstream displacement by periodic disturbances. Thus, retention of climbing ability could be advantageous for adult stream gobies. Climbing performance might be expected to decline among adults, however, due to the tendency for mass-specific muscular power production to decrease with body size, and a lack of positively …

Application Of Microsatellite Dna Markers To Discriminate Maternal And Genetic Effects On Scalation And Behavior In Multiply-Sired Garter Snake Litters, Gordon Burghardt

Gordon Burghardt

Incomplete knowledge of pedigrees sometimes limits the methods of estimating quantitative genetic parameters (heritability, genetic correlation) in nature and may result in estimates that are inflated by nongenetic sources of variation. North American garter snakes and their allies provide a model system for investigating evolutionary quantitative genetics, but estimates of quantitative genetic parameters in these snakes are mostly based on offspring-dam regression and full-sib analysis, methods that fail to discriminate between maternal genetic, maternal environmental, and direct genetic effects on traits of interest. Using data from the garter snake Thamnophis sirtalis, we demonstrate that microsatellite DNA markers can be used …

A Field Guide To Models Of Sex-Ratio Evolution In Gynodioecious Species, Maia F. Bailey, Lynda F. Delph

Maia F. Bailey

No abstract provided.

Ontogenetic Change In Novel Functions: Waterfall Climbing In Adult Hawaiian Gobiid Fishes, R Blob, K M. Wright, M Becker, T Maie, T J. Iverson, M L. Julius, H L. Schoenfuss

Academic Services Faculty and Staff Publications

Juveniles from three species of Hawaiian gobiid fishes climb waterfalls as part of an amphidromous life cycle, allowing them to re-penetrate adult upstream habitats after being swept out to the ocean upon hatching. The importance of climbing for juvenile stream gobies is well established, but adult fish in upstream island habitats also face potential downstream displacement by periodic disturbances. Thus, retention of climbing ability could be advantageous for adult stream gobies. Climbing performance might be expected to decline among adults, however, due to the tendency for mass-specific muscular power production to decrease with body size, and a lack of positively …

The Cynipoid Genus Paramblynotus: Revision, Phylogeny, And Historical Biogeography (Hymenoptera, Liopteridae), Zhiwei Liu, Fredrik Ronquist, Goeran Nordlander

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

The genus Paramblynotus is the most species-rich genus of the so-called macrocynipoids, the large cynipoid parasitoids of wood-boring and cone-boring insect larvae. The species range in size from some of the largest to the smallest macrocynipoids, comparable in size to microcynipoids. Paramblynotus members occur on all continents except Europe and Australia, with most species being tropical or subtropical. The biology is poorly known but a few observations indicate that the species are parasitoids of beetle larvae. In this monographic revision of the genus, we present a species-level cladistic analysis based on qualitative and quantitative features of the external morphology. For …

The Effect Of Male And Female Body Size On Mating Behavior Of Male Fairy Shrimp, Eubranchipus Neglectus, Craig Feigenbaum, Paul V. Switzer

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

We studied size-related mating patterns in the freshwater fairy shrimp Eubranchipus neglectus in the laboratory. Males were provided with relatively small or large females that they could only sense by vision. We recorded the number of times a male pursued the female (“follows”), the duration of these follows, and the number of times a male attempted to grasp the female. Relatively large males performed more mating behavior than relatively small males. Furthermore, males (regardless of their own size) exhibited more mating behavior towards large than small females. They followed large females more frequently, attempted to grasp large females more often, …

The Effect Of Male And Female Body Size On Mating Behavior Of Male Fairy Shrimp, Eubranchipus Neglectus, Craig Feigenbaum, Paul Switzer

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

We studied size-related mating patterns in the freshwater fairy shrimp Eubranchipus neglectus in the laboratory. Males were provided with relatively small or large females that they could only sense by vision. We recorded the number of times a male pursued the female (“follows”), the duration of these follows, and the number of times a male attempted to grasp the female. Relatively large males performed more mating behavior than relatively small males. Furthermore, males (regardless of their own size) exhibited more mating behavior towards large than small females. They followed large females more frequently, attempted to grasp large females more often, …

Review Of Analysis Of Phylogenetics And Evolution With R By Emmanuel Paradis, Daniel M. Stoebel

All HMC Faculty Publications and Research

This is a book review.

Review Of Jewish Tradition And The Challenge Of Darwinism, Geoffery Cantor And Marc Swetlitz, Eds., Daniel M. Stoebel

All HMC Faculty Publications and Research

This is a book review.

Evolution, Jonathan Eisen

Jonathan A. Eisen Ph.D.

No abstract provided.

Hydroperiod And Metamorphosis In The Small-Mouthed Salamander

Travis J. Ryan

Runx2 Is Essential For Larval Hyobranchial Cartilage Formation In Xenopus Laevis, Ryan Kerney, Joshua Gross, James Hanken

Ryan Kerney

The vertebrate transcription factor protein Runx2 is regarded as a “master regulator” of bone formation due to the dramatic loss of the osseous skeleton in the mouse homozygous knockout. However, Runx2 mRNA also is expressed in the pre-hypertrophic cartilaginous skeleton of the mouse and chicken, where its developmental function is largely unknown. Several tiers of Runx2 regulation exist in the mouse, any of which may account for its seeming biological inactivity during early stages of skeletogenesis. Unlike mouse and chicken, zebrafish require Runx2 function in early cartilage differentiation. The present study reveals that the earlier functional role of Runx2 in …

Cranial Ontogeny In Philautus Silus (Anura: Ranidae: Rhacophorinae) Reveals Few Similarities With Other Direct-Developing Anurans, Ryan Kerney, Madhava Meegaskumbura, Kelum Manamendra-Arachchi, James Hanken

Ryan Kerney

Direct development has evolved in rhaco- phorine frogs independently from other anuran lineages, thereby offering an opportunity to assess features associ- ated with this derived life history. Using a developmen- tal series of the direct-developing Philautus silus (Ranidae: Rhacophorinae) from Sri Lanka, we examine features of cranial morphology that are part of a suite of adaptations that facilitate feeding in free-living tadpoles, but have been changed or lost in other direct-developing lineages. Larval-specific upper jaw cartilages, which are absent from many non-rhacophorine direct-developing species (such as Eleutherodactylus coqui), develop in embryos of P. silus. Similarly, lower jaw cartilages ini- tially …

Legacy Of Land Use In Southern Appalachian Forests: Effects On Terrestrial Salamander Abundance Along Edges And Within Abandoned Logging Roads, R. Semlitsch,, Travis Ryan, M. Chatfield, B. Drehman, K. Hamed, N. Pekarek, M. Spath

Travis J. Ryan

Working At The Interface Of Phylogenetics And Population Genetics: A Biogeographical Analysis Of Triaenops Spp. (Chiroptera: Hipposideridae, Amy L. Russell, J. Ranivo, E. P. Palkovacs, S. M. Goodman, A. D. Yoder

Amy L. Russell

In The Heat Of The Law, It's Not Just Steam: Geothermal Resources And The Impact On Thermophile Biodiversity, Donald J. Kochan, Tiffany Grant

Donald J. Kochan

Significant research has been conducted into the utilization of geothermal resources as a ‘green’ energy source. However, minimal research has been conducted into geothermal resource utilization and depletion impacts on thermophile biodiversity. Thermophiles are organisms which have adapted over millions of year to extreme temperature and chemical compositions and exist in hot springs and other geothermal resources. Their ability to withstand high temperatures makes them invaluable to scientific and medical research. Current federal and California case law classify geothermal resources as a mineral, not a water resource. Acquisition of rights to develop a geothermal resource owned or reserved by the …