Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons^™

Essential Questions, Imsa Biology Team

Evolution

In order to understand the current state of biological life and how it has changed over time, the following questions must be addressed:

Evidence Of Evolution 1: Structures, Imsa Biology Team

Evolution

In order to investigate linage, evolutionary history, and common ancestry, you need to be familiar with the following structures.

Mechanisms And Speciation 1: The Modern Synthesis, Imsa Biology Team

Evolution

The Modern Synthesis or Synthetic Theory of Evolution is an explanation of evolution that is based on modern genetic principles. According to the Modern Synthesis (a.k.a. Neo-Darwinism):

Evolution Practice 1, Imsa Biology Team

Evolution

Answer the following questions using information from the handouts, and examples from the LAB

Evolution Practice 2, Imsa Biology Team

Evolution

Evolution Problems

Genetic Drift Simulation, Imsa Biology Team

Evolution

Genetic drift can be defined as a random fluctuation in gene frequency. More specifically, it tells us that different alleles may increase or decrease in a population in proportion to one another over time, just by chance, rather than due to any fitness advantage.

Evidence Of Evolution 3: Evolutionary Evidence And Inferences Lab: A Discussion Guide, Imsa Biology Team

Evolution

This lab activity was designed to provide you with opportunities to make inferences and draw conclusions about evolution and the common ancestry of various animals based on their anatomical characteristics and comparative anatomy. You will be given tasks to accomplish or questions to answer at each of 11 stations. In order to do this successfully, you must make careful observations of the specimens on display.

Evidence Of Evolution 2: Definitions For Evolutionary Evidence Lab, Imsa Biology Team

Evolution

This lab activity was designed to provide you with opportunities to make inferences and draw conclusions about evolution and the common ancestry of various animals based on their anatomical characteristics and comparative anatomy. You will be given tasks to accomplish or questions to answer at each of 11 stations. In order to do this successfully, you must make careful observations of the specimens on display. You must also know the following definitions before beginning this activity:

Mechanisms And Speciation 2: Evolution On The Web Questions, Imsa Biology Team

Evolution

The website below, sponsored by UC Berkeley, is a reliable source for information about evolution. This will give you the introductory information about the mechanisms of Evolution.

Book Reviews, Robert D. Aldridge, Michael B. Thompson, Malorie M. Hayes, Rafael O. De Sá, Christopher G. Lowe

Biology Faculty Publications

Reproductive Biology and Phylogeny of Lizards and Tuatara. J. L. Rheubert, D. S. Siegel, and S. E. Trauth (Eds.). 2014. CRC Press. ISBN 9781466579866. 760 p. $143.96 (hardcover).—

According to the authors, this book was intended to summarize the current knowledge of phylo- geny and reproduction of the Lepidosauria. I believe the authors have achieved their goal. Many of the chapters in this book are derived from presentations that took place at the Symposium on Reproductive Biology of Lizards at the Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists held in Chattanooga, Tennessee in 2014. Although the majority of the authors are …

Ficus Sp. Y La Frugivoría: Una Investigación Sobre Un Recurso Importante Para Las Aves En El Bosque Nublado Occidental Del Ecuador, Hilary Niles

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Ocho plantas fructíferas de Ficus sp. (Moraceae) fueron monitoreadas durante 16 días en la reserva La Hesperia en el bosque nublado al oeste del Ecuador; esto con el objetivo de entender mejor los patrones de la frugivoría aviar y la relación entre las aves y el género Ficus. Se observaron aves durante el 70.8% de las visitas de observación, en las que se registraron 326 individuos, 28 especies, y 7 familias comiendo la fruta de las plantas de Ficus. La mayoría (74.5%) de las aves observadas perteneció a la familia Thraupidae, siendo las dos especies predominantes Tangara gyrola …

Evolution And Biodiversity, Timothy Henkel, Emily Croteau, Matthew Waters

Biological Sciences Grants Collections

This Grants Collection for Evolution and Biodiversity was created under a Round Four ALG Textbook Transformation Grant.

Affordable Learning Georgia Grants Collections are intended to provide faculty with the frameworks to quickly implement or revise the same materials as a Textbook Transformation Grants team, along with the aims and lessons learned from project teams during the implementation process.

Documents are in .pdf format, with a separate .docx (Word) version available for download. Each collection contains the following materials:

• Linked Syllabus
• Initial Proposal
• Final Report

Addressing Misconceptions About Evolution, Sarah O'Leary-Driscoll, Don Dosch

Evolution

"Leave with effective ways to identify and address misconceptions about evolution, with a particular focus on supporting explanations with evidence."

Using The Past To Restore The Future: Quantifying Historical Vegetation To Assist In Tidal Freshwater Wetland Restoration, Christopher D. Gatens

UROP Posters

Wetlands have been providing humans with critical natural ecosystem services throughout our time on Earth. Nevertheless, these invaluable ecosystems have been habitually altered as a cost of human progression. Two of the most common alterations to wetlands are damming and filling. Both occurred along Kimages Creek in Charles City County, VA during the 19^th and 20^th centuries. In 2010 the Lake Charles dam was partially removed, restoring the creek’s tidal communication with the James River. Upon the recession of the body of water, numerous woody stumps were revealed. We studied these stump remnants in an attempt to assess …

Evolution, Systematics & Geographic Parthenogenesis Of Ilyodromus (Crustacea, Ostracoda), Rylan James Shearn

Theses

Most multicellular organisms reproduce sexually at some point in their life cycle. This is paradoxical because being asexual is theoretically far more advantageous. Asexual organisms do not need to find and court new mates, they reproduce at a faster rate, and with no males, all members of the population contribute toward population growth rate. With over 20, often mutually exclusive hypotheses, this paradox resists a synthesised explanation, and continues to represent one of the largest gaps in our understanding of fundamental evolutionary theory. Clearly, more real world studies are required that document the selective mechanisms underlying differences in evolutionary fitness …

A Basic Guide For Empirical Environmental Social Science, Michael Cox

Dartmouth Scholarship

In this paper, I address a gap in the literature on environmental social science by providing a basic rubric for the conduct of empirical research in this interdisciplinary field. Current literature displays a healthy diversity of methods and techniques, but this has also been accompanied by a lack of consistency in the way in which research in this area is done. In part this can be seen as resulting from a lack in supporting texts that would provide a basis for this consistency. Although relevant methods texts do exist, these are not written with this type of research explicitly in …

The Ecology Of Infancy And Early Childhood In Rural Senegal; A Five Year Old Can Boot But Not Foot, An Exploration Of Where Biology Meets Culture, Heather Mills

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This research project explores the life stages of infancy and early childhood in the village of Ndiane in the Thies region of Senegal. I will discuss how biology meets culture to influence children, parenting styles, and expectations of the life stage. How does ecology, the interaction of physical, biological and cultural landscapes, characterize childhood and the intertwined belief systems that influence parenting? The information was gathered using a combination of participant observation and free list interviews.

Acute Effects Of Tio2 Nanomaterials On The Viability And Taxonomic Composition Of Aquatic Bacterial Communities Assessed Via High-Throughput Screening And Next Generation Sequencing, Binh Chu, Tiezheng Tong, Jean-François Gaillard, Kimberley A. Gray, John J. Kelly

Biology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

The nanotechnology industry is growing rapidly, leading to concerns about the potential ecological consequences of the release of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) to the environment. One challenge of assessing the ecological risks of ENMs is the incredible diversity of ENMs currently available and the rapid pace at which new ENMs are being developed. High-throughput screening (HTS) is a popular approach to assessing ENM cytotoxicity that offers the opportunity to rapidly test in parallel a wide range of ENMs at multiple concentrations. However, current HTS approaches generally test one cell type at a time, which limits their ability to predict responses of …

Tribute To Tinbergen: The Place Of Animal Behavior In Biology, Joan E. Strassmann

Biology Faculty Research

Tinbergen is famous for emphasizing behavioral fieldwork and experimentation under natural circumstances, for founding the field of ethology, for getting a Nobel Prize, and for mentoring Richard Dawkins. He is known for dividing behavior studies into physiology, development, natural selection, and evolutionary history. In the decades since Tinbergen was active, some of the best research in animal behavior fuses Tinbergen's questions, connecting genes to behavioral phenotypes, for example. Behavior is the most synthetic of the life sciences, because observing the actions of an organism can tell us what all those physical and physiological traits are for. Insights from behavior tell …

The Influence Of Topographic And Dynamic Cyclic Variables On The Distribution Of Small Cetaceans In A Shallow Coastal System, Marijke N. De Boer, Mark P. Simmonds, Peter J.H. Reijnders, Geert Aarts

Ecology Collection

The influence of topographic and temporal variables on cetacean distribution at a fine-scale is still poorly understood. To study the spatial and temporal distribution of harbour porpoise Phocoena phocoena and the poorly known Risso’s dolphin Grampus griseus we carried out land-based observations from Bardsey Island (Wales, UK) in summer (2001–2007). Using Kernel analysis and Generalized Additive Models it was shown that porpoises and Risso’s appeared to be linked to topographic and dynamic cyclic variables with both species using different core areas (dolphins to the West and porpoises to the East off Bardsey). Depth, slope and aspect and a low variation …

The Distribution Of Fitness Effects Of Spontaneous Mutations In Vibrio Fischeri, Chelsea K. Jones

Honors Theses and Capstones

Mutations are the ultimate source of the biological diversity on which natural selection acts, but the vast majority of these mutations are harmful. As such, mutations lead to disease states like cancer, extinction of small populations, and can drive pathogen evolution. Unfortunately, because mutations are rare and past studies have been subject to detection biases, very little is known about the distribution of fitness effects from naturally occurring mutations. In this study, we used mutation accumulation and full genome sequencing to capture naturally occurring mutations before they were exposed to the sieve of natural selection in Vibrio fischeri. We …

Generalist And Specialist Pollination Syndromes: When Are They Favoured? A Theoretical Approach To Predict The Conditions Under Which A Generalist Or Specialist Pollination Syndrome Is Favoured., Tyler L. Poppenwimer

Senior Independent Study Theses

No abstract provided.

A Seasonal, Density-Dependent Model For The Management Of An Invasive Weed, Esther Shyu, Eleanor A. Pardini, Tiffany M. Knight, Hal Caswell

Biology Faculty Research

The population effects of harvest depend on complex interactions between density dependence, seasonality, stage structure, and management timing. Here we present a periodic nonlinear matrix population model that incorporates seasonal density dependence with stage-selective and seasonally selective harvest. To this model, we apply newly developed perturbation analyses to determine how population densities respond to changes in harvest and demographic parameters. We use the model to examine the effects of popular control strategies and demographic perturbations on the invasive weed garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata). We find that seasonality is a major factor in harvest outcomes, because population dynamics may …

Distribution And Abundance Of Anopheles Spp. In The Lower Rio Grande Valley, South Texas, Norma Hermelinda Martinez

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This study investigated the relationship between Anopheles abundance, collection sites and environmental variables in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, South Texas. In addition, species composition in the Lower Rio Grande Valley was determined in 2011. A total of 6772 female mosquitoes were identified to six genera and 27 species. The most prevalent genera collected were Culex (53.9%), Ochlerotatus (25.6%) and Aedes (13.6%). Anopheles mosquitoes were collected using resting boxes during summer 2012 at multiple locations along the Lower Rio Grande Valley. ArcGIS was used to identify land cover characteristics and nearest water sources at mosquito collection sites. Estero Llano Grande …

Conservation In The Context Of Climate Change: Practical Guidelines For Land Protection At Local Scales, Kevin Ruddock, Peter V. August, Christopher Damon, Charles Labash, Pamela Rubinoff, Donald Robadue Jr.

Natural Resources Science Faculty Publications

Climate change will affect the composition of plant and animal communities in many habitats and geographic settings. This presents a dilemma for conservation programs – will the portfolio of protected lands we now have achieve a goal of conserving biodiversity in the future when the ecological communities occurring within them change? Climate change will significantly alter many plant communities, but the geophysical underpinnings of these landscapes, such as landform, elevation, soil, and geological properties, will largely remain the same. Studies show that extant landscapes with a diversity of geophysical characteristics support diverse plant and animal communities. Therefore, geophysically diverse landscapes …

James’S Rule And Causes And Consequences Of A Latitudinal Cline In The Demography Of John’S Snapper (Lutjanus Johnii) In Coastal Waters Of Australia, Mike Cappo, Ross J. Marriott, Stephen J. Newman

Fisheries Research Articles

Demographic parameters were derived from sectioned otoliths of John’s Snapper (Lutjanus johnii) from 4 regions across 9° of latitude and 23° of longitude in northern Australia. Latitudinal variation in size and growth rates of this species greatly exceeded longitudinal variation. Populations of John’s Snapper farthest from the equator had the largest body sizes, in line with James’s rule, and the fastest growth rates, contrary to the temperature size rule for ectotherms. A maximum age of 28.6 years, nearly 3 times previous estimates, was recorded and the largest individual was 990 mm in fork length. Females grew to a larger mean …

The Rate And Effects Of Spontaneous Mutation On Fitness Traits In The Social Amoeba, Dictyostelium Discoideum, David W. Hall, Sara Fox, Jennie J. Kuzdzal-Fick, Joan E. Strassmann, David C. Queller

Biology Faculty Research

We performed a mutation accumulation (MA) experiment in the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum to estimate the rate and distribution of effects of spontaneous mutations affecting eight putative fitness traits. We found that the per-generation mutation rate for most fitness components is 0.0019 mutations per haploid genome per generation or larger. This rate is an order of magnitude higher than estimates for fitness components in the unicellular eukaryote Saccharomyces cerevisiae, even though the base-pair substitution rate is two orders of magnitude lower. The high rate of fitness-altering mutations observed in this species may be partially explained by a large mutational target …

Persons As Plants: Ecopsychology And The Return To The Dream Of Nature, Monica Gagliano

Landscapes: the Journal of the International Centre for Landscape and Language

Abstract. In this article, I examine human-plant perceptions and interactions in terms of developing a new perspective on the perception and the actions of people towards plants. By combining my scientific understanding of the biological world and my own experiences working with plant shamans, storytellers and mystics from around the world, I engage with the idea that the hierarchical structure by which Western science defines the variety of life forms as ‘primitive’ or ‘more evolved’ is at the root of the current environmental crisis and I argue that the solution to it rests in a change of this very perspective.

Sturgis And Kay Mckeever Papers, Zach S. Henderson Library Special Collections

Finding Aids

This collection consists of the papers of Georgia Southern University biology professor Sturgis McKeever and other materials related to the McKeever family, particularly his wife, Kay McKeever, and his brothers Ivan and Kermit McKeever. The materials span 1935–2005 and are predominantly professional in nature, including numerous research reprints and publications on animal species across North America, correspondence between McKeever and other researchers, and handwritten graphs, charts, and research notes. The collection also contains photographic materials, including photographic slides and negatives documenting his research. The recent accrual expands the collection to include personal correspondence between Sturgis and Kay McKeever, as well …

A Reassessment Of The Conservation Status Of A Critically Endangered Neotropical Frog, Mannophryne Olmonae, Using Occupancy Modeling Techniques, Jessica Mcquigg

Senior Independent Study Theses

Amphibian species worldwide are threatened with decline and extinction, making species monitoring an important scientific endeavor. The Bloody Bay Poison Frog, Mannophryne olmonae, a Tobago island endemic, was identified as critically endangered by the IUCN in 2004. Recent evidence suggests that a less severe conservation status may be appropriate for M. olmonae. This study employs acoustic calling surveys, land-use information, and multi-year (2011 and 2012) occupancy modeling techniques to propose an appropriate conservation status for this species. This study suggests that M. olmonae occupies a larger geographic range than was previously thought, and is not experiencing population declines. …