Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons^™

Systematics, Biogeography, And Comparative Morphology Of Emerald And Tigertail Dragonflies (Anisoptera: Synthemistidae & Corduliidae), Aaron M. Goodman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Dragonflies and damselflies (Odonata Fabricius, 1793) are among the most widely recognized and charismatic insect groups, whose significance have permeated throughout artwork, culture, and religion. They are highly mobile predators, currently consisting of ~ 6,500 species, and possessing some of the complex visual color systems, visual acuity, and flight patterns on Earth. Odonata are the among the earliest flying insects, with proto-odonates (Griffinflies) dating back to the Carboniferous (~360mya), with crown-odonata fossils stretching back to the Triassic (~250mya). Overall, dragonflies and damselflies are considered models of ecological and evolutionary research due to their long evolutionary history, range of habitats, and …

Disturbance And Diversity: Lichens In Changing Landscapes, Laura Boggess

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Disturbance is a fundamental ecological force that shapes biodiversity, community composition, and ecosystem function. Human-driven disturbances—such as habitat fragmentation, deforestation, and air pollution—are increasing worldwide, altering ecosystems at unprecedented rates. While ecological research has illuminated many effects of disturbance, significant knowledge gaps remain for underappreciated but ecologically vital organisms, such as lichens. Lichens are obligate symbioses between at least one fungus and one alga or cyanobacterium. As such, they are sensitive bioindicators of environmental change, offering unique insights into ecosystem health due to their responses to stressors such as poor air quality, habitat fragmentation, and deforestation. Yet, their responses to …

Decoding The Plant Metabolome: A Metabolomics Approach To Guereza (Colobus Guereza) Feeding Ecology In Kibale National Park, Uganda, Emma Grace Thurau

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Plant metabolites, an elusive and diverse group of plant chemicals, represent a complex chemical interplay between plants and herbivores. Plants contain essential nutrients necessary for herbivore survival, yet herbivore consumption results in negative fitness consequences to a plant. This relationship has triggered a coevolutionary arms race in which plants have evolved chemical defenses to prevent herbivore consumption and herbivores, in response, have evolved their own counter-adaptations. This arms race has led to the diverse numbers of herbivores and plants observed today; therefore, these plant metabolites act as a signature of evolution through their influence on herbivore adaptations. Plant metabolites are …

The Influence Of Environmental Change On Genetic Diversity Across Spatial And Taxonomic Scales, Connor M. French

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The spatial distribution of genetic diversity is of interest to biodiversity scientists and conservationists and is a fundamental metric of biodiversity. Genetic diversity patterns across spatial and taxonomic scales contain information about population and assemblage dynamics that can convey their resilience to environmental change. Ectotherms are especially linked to their environments and may be especially sensitive to fluctuations in the environment over time. Herein, I investigate global and regional patterns of genetic diversity in two groups of ectotherms, insects and lizards, to understand the relationship between environmental change and genetic diversity, from populations to assemblages. Overall, my research aims to …

The Effects Of Environmental Changes On The Biodiversity And Macroecological Patterns Of Bird Assemblages In The United States, Marlen Acosta Alamo

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The current restructuring of species assemblages and global loss of biodiversity result from species-specific responses to anthropogenic changes in climate and land cover. I investigated the effect of these two drivers on the seasonal distribution and biodiversity of birds in the United States and how human-induced habitat loss impacts macroecological patterns such as the species-area and the abundance-occupancy relationships. In Chapter 1, I examined the existence of a correlation between breeding and wintering geographic distributions of birds with different migratory strategies and the effect of changes in climate and the proportion of crop-pasture and urban land cover on this correlation. …

Avian Symbionts Of Sulawesi: Identifying And Correlating Malaria Parasites And The Microbiome In Communities Of Endemic Avian Hosts, Rachael Joakim

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Since the evolution of complex organisms, there have been communities of symbionts inhabiting them. Thanks to the development of parallel sequencing techniques, DNA of entire microbial communities can be sequenced from a single sample. Some microbes can be parasitic in nature, such as Haemosporida, an order of eukaryotes causing malaria. While most symbionts form a more commensal host relationship in wild systems, host-symbiont dynamics can vary in pathogenicity based on biotic and abiotic factors. In vertebrates, microbial communities in the gut play a major role in host function, including immune responses to Haemosporida. Though this relationship is most commonly explored …

Using Leaf Spectra To Elucidate The Taxonomy And Ecology Of Living And Dried Plants, Natalia L. Quinteros Casaverde

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Identifying plants and understanding of changes in plant communities are crucial to the conservation and management of nature. The shortwave spectral reflectance of leaves is a promising tool for rapidly identifying species at different taxonomic ranks and predicting important plant functional traits. However, the spectral reflectance of leaves changes in response to biotic and abiotic conditions.

The aim of this dissertation is to investigate the potential of shortwave spectral reflectance to investigate (Chapter 1) how its variation affects the accuracy of methods used to predict plant taxonomies and what environmental factors most influence biophysically predicted traits, (Chapter 2) what are …

Expanding The Role Of The Temporal Dimension In Ecological Niche Models: A Study On Mexican Montane Small Mammals, Gonzalo E. Pinilla Buitrago

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Ecological niche models (ENMs) are commonly used to estimate the potential geographic distributions of species and have various uses, such as predicting invasive species' potential distribution, assessing vulnerability to climate change, or estimating paleodistributions. However, ENM developments have primarily focused on solving spatially related issues, underemphasizing the temporal dimensionality of occurrence and environmental data collected over the last century. One limitation of ENMs is the common practice of using recent environmental averages that fail to capture the gradual environmental change over the time span of the occurrence records and can hide trends in environmental variables, a critical piece of information …

Diet And Nutrition Of Lemurs In The Lean Season, Santiago Cassalett

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Animals must navigate complex food and nutrient environments that are constantly in flux to obtain the macro and micronutrients necessary for their growth, reproduction, and survival. The nutritional needs of animals also vary over the life course, further complicating the search for adequate foods and the nutrients within them. The hypervariable and unpredictable environment of Madagascar creates a complex nutrient landscape for lemurs in particular because they are subject to large fluctuations in food availability. These fluctuations are thought to create extreme periods of nutritional stress during the dry season (known as the lean season) for lemurs. In response, lemurs …

Conservation, Comparative Genomics And Species Delimitation Of The Reindeer Lichens (Cladonia), Jordan R. Hoffman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The genus Cladonia represents one of the most speciose genera of lichenized fungi, with more than 500 known species encompassing a diverse array of morphologies and habits. These lichens form keystone species in many habitats, serving a variety of ecological roles. However, despite being among of the more well studied lichens, there is much still unknown or under-studied about them. As is the case with most lichen study systems, phylogenetic study has been limited to a small number of partial loci, while adoption of next-generation sequence methods has been slow. As a consequence, there are still knowledge gaps in Cladonia …

Vertebrate Scavenger Diversity And Ecosystem Services Along An Elevational Gradient In Central Nepal, Aishwarya Bhattacharjee

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

A growing number of studies recognize the ecological significance of vertebrate scavengers, and several species belonging to this diverse, functional guild are of high conservation importance around the globe. Studies on taxonomic and functional components of biodiversity often use elevation gradients to comprehensively examine patterns and drivers across multiple spatial scales. Yet, there are relatively few elevational studies on large vertebrates or multi-taxa guilds, and the related variation of their ecosystem services. In particular, scavenger research has largely focused on local-scale studies or regional/global comparisons of local-scale investigations. Moreover, these studies primarily consider taxonomic community characteristics and the patterns of …

Understanding And Predicting The Distribution Of Biodiversity In The Atlantic Forest, Andrea Paz Velez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Understanding how biodiversity is distributed in geography is essential for conservation. This requires an understanding of the multiple dimensions of biodiversity: species, their ecological functions, and their evolutionary history. For my Ph.D. dissertation, I devised a study to explore the environmental drivers of biodiversity patterns in Neotropical species. I first investigated broad macroecological patterns in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, combining occurrence data and phylogenetic information from multiple clades of animals and plants (Chapter 1). I discovered that one can accurately predict the accumulation of species richness and phylogenetic diversity based on current climatic descriptors – particularly precipitation – but not …

Dietary Development And Nutritional Ontogeny In Gorilla Beringei : A Multi-Layered, -Omics Approach, Emma C. Cancelliere

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In species who consume folivorous diets, immature individuals must contend with the challenges of extracting nutrients from fibrous foods before dietary adaptations and strategies are fully developed. Additionally, immatures have distinct nutritional needs to support their stage-specific metabolic and biophysiological requirements. To meet these stage-specific needs, while constrained by underdeveloped feeding strategies and digestive capacities, immatures may adopt distinct diets better suited to their specific developmental context. However, where dietary modification is constrained by low dietary diversity or landscape homogeneity, it is unclear how immature individuals compensate through alternative strategies. In turn, little is known about the nutritional and life …

The Evolution Of Spinosad Resistance In Colorado Potato Beetles (Leptinotarsa Decemlineata), Coby Michael Klein

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Colorado potato beetles (Leptinotarsa decemlineata) are a major pest of cultivated potato plants worldwide. They are well-known for their ability to rapidly evolve resistance to all major classes of pesticides. Defoliation of potato plants by L. decemlineata can reduce potato yields by a considerable margin. The damage done by resistant beetles is steep and much research is focused on developing new chemical controls, especially those derived from naturally occurring compounds. Spinosad is a relatively new natural product insecticide, introduced approximately a decade ago, suitable for use in organic farming. Potato beetles on Long Island, NY developed very strong …

A Contribution Toward A Global Monograph Of Gyroporus: Taxonomy, Phylogeny, Biogeography, Naveed Davoodian

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Gyroporus (Sclerodermatineae, Boletales, Agaricomycetes, Basidiomycota, Fungi) is a genus of ectomycorrhizal mushroom-forming fungi distributed throughout the world in suitable habitats. Previous attempts to untangle the diversity of this genus proved difficult due to the presence of semi-cryptic species and equivocal results from phylogenetic analysis of ribosomal RNA markers. To overcome these obstacles, a combined taxonomic and phylogenetic (emphasizing protein-coding genes) approach is used here to delimit species and elucidate geographic and evolutionary patterns of Gyroporus. Careful study of relevant literature and herbarium specimens was augmented by field work in North America, Australia, and East Asia for observation and collection …

Ecology, Evolution, And Sexual Selection In The Invasive, Globally Distributed Small Indian Mongoose (Urva Auropunctata), M. Aaron Owen

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Introduced species provide rare opportunities to test evolutionary hypotheses in situ by creating so-called natural experiments. Natural experiments are situations in nature that resemble laboratory studies by allowing for comparisons of a “control” group (i.e., a species’ native range) with “experimental” groups (i.e., a species’ introduced range). In particular, introduced animals allow us to investigate evolutionary dynamics in complex, long-lived organisms in ways that would otherwise be impossible in a laboratory setting. One such introduced animal is the small Indian mongoose (Urva auropunctata, formerly Herpestes auropunctatus). Native to South Asia, the small Indian mongoose’s introduction to more …

The Role Of Individual Cognitive And Behavioral Ontogeny In Organization And Evolution Of Social Systems, Andrew G. Fulmer

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Exploration and explanation of the relationship between individual variation in behavior and the composition and adaptive success of social groups or populations are crucial problems in the fields of behavioral ecology, ethology, and comparative psychology. These questions have been the subject of a longstanding discussion at both the proximate and ultimate levels of inquiry. Adaptive mechanisms explaining social decision making, both in terms of affiliative and competitive partner choices, are at the center of such discussions. Inclusive fitness, kin-selection, handicap or prestige, risk seeking and risk avoiding strategies, pay-to-stay/reward principles, as well as other theories have been proposed and supported …