Evolution Commons^™

Development Of Graphical Models And Statistical Physics Motivated Approaches To Genomic Investigations, Yashwanth Lagisetty

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Identifying genes involved in disease pathology has been a goal of genomic research since the early days of the field. However, as technology improves and the body of research grows, we are faced with more questions than answers. Among these is the pressing matter of our incomplete understanding of the genetic underpinnings of complex diseases. Many hypotheses offer explanations as to why direct and independent analyses of variants, as done in genome-wide association studies (GWAS), may not fully elucidate disease genetics. These range from pointing out flaws in statistical testing to invoking the complex dynamics of epigenetic processes. In the …

The Biological Influence Of Stories & The Importance Of Reading Fiction, Elise N. Good, Katharine Schaab

The Kennesaw Journal of Undergraduate Research

Fictional narratives and stories have persisted throughout human history. However, perhaps due to a bias that stories offered nothing more than entertainment for the reader or perhaps that they are not useful outside of the realm of academia, the research within science academia has been lacking in literature on why these narratives have endured. Unfortunately, due to the lack of conversation across disciplines, particularly those of science and literature, this subject has not been thoroughly investigated through an interdisciplinary lens. Within this paper, the goal is to analyze the benefits of fictional narratives through biological, evolutionary, and neuropsychological perspectives. Research …

Reanalysis Of Teruelius And Grosphus (Scorpiones: Buthidae) With Descriptions Of Two New Species, Graeme Lowe, František Kovařík

Euscorpius

No abstract provided.

Evolution Of Freshwater Fishes In The Northern Neotropics, Diego Elias

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The northern Neotropics (NN) represents one of the most geologically-complex regions on the planet, composed of island-like geological blocks that have undergone multiple episodes of isolation and connectivity at various geological times. The riverscapes of the NN harbor a unique assemblage of freshwater fishes. In contrast to the freshwaters systems of South America, which are dominated by ostariophysan lineages, the aquatic systems of the NN are dominated by lineages of two families: Cichlidae (cichlids) and Poeciliidae (livebearers). It has been suggested that the geologically complex nature of the region allowed ancestors of cichlids and livebearers to colonize and radiate within …

Insights Into The Speciation Process From Genomic And Phenotypic Analysis Of An Avian Hybrid Zone In Amazonia, Glaucia Christina Del-Rio

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Understanding the outcome of secondary contact is essential to shed light on the mechanisms governing species formation and maintenance. In Amazonia, closely related bird taxa with limited dispersal abilities are often separated by rivers, which presumably act as dispersal barriers. However, at the headwaters, rivers cease to be dispersal barriers, and this generates opportunities for secondary contact. In my dissertation, I studied genomic mechanisms associated with phenotypic differences, mitochondrial DNA structure, and putative reproductive barriers between two hybridizing Amazonian bird species in the genus Rhegmatorhina, a group of antbirds that find their arthropod prey exclusively by following army-ant swarms. …

Plastic And Evolved Responses In The Eastern Oyster, Crassostrea Virginica, To Environmental Variation In The Northern Gulf Of Mexico, Kyle Sirovy

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Climate change and other anthropogenic impacts are causing rapid alterations to many of the world’s most productive coastal ecosystems and there is an urgent need to understand how species will respond to these environmental changes. Organisms may respond through plasticity, evolution, or the evolution of plasticity. In this dissertation, I evaluate the role of plastic and evolved responses in the eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica, to environmental variation in the northern Gulf of Mexico. I use comparative transcriptomics, physiology, and morphology to examine the relative contribution of plastic and evolved responses for oysters exposed to low salinity and outplant sites …

Nature, Data, And Power: How Hegemonies Shaped This Special Section, A. Kamath, B. Velocci, A. Wesner, N. Chen, Vincent A. Formica, B. Subramaniam, M. Rebolleda-Gómez

Biology Faculty Works

Systems of oppression—racism, colonialism, misogyny, cissexism, ableism, heteronormativity, and more—have long shaped the content and practice of science. But opportunities to reckon with these influences are rarely found within academic science, even though such critiques are well developed in the social sciences and humanities. In this special section, we attempt to bring cross-disciplinary conversations among ecology, evolution, behavior, and genetics on the one hand and critical perspectives from the social sciences and humanities on the other into the pages—and in front of the readers—of a scientific journal. In this introduction to the special section, we recount and reflect on the …

Population Genomics Of The Giant Caribbean Sea Anemone Condylactis Gigantea (Anthozoa: Actiniidae) In Florida And Across The Caribbean, Nancy E. Sheridan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The giant Caribbean sea anemone Condylactis gigantea is a long-lived, conspicuous, and phenotypically diverse species native to the western Atlantic Ocean (from Bermuda to southeast Brazil), Caribbean Sea, and southeastern Gulf of Mexico. This sea anemone is an important benthic community member that provides habitat to numerous species, including cleaner shrimp. This relationship makes these animals desirable to aquarists for both enjoyment and the service provided by the shrimp for the overall health of an aquarium, and which is why they are sought.

The extraction of about 3.3 million C. gigantea individuals in Florida over a 23-year period for the …

Scorpions Of China: An Updated Checklist With Comments On Some Taxonomic Issues (Arachnida: Scorpiones), Victoria Tang

Euscorpius

An updated checklist of scorpions of China (52 species belonging to 13 genera and six families) is provided, with Chinese name equivalents and an illustrated map of all localities. Colored photos of the Chinese population of Mesobuthus thersites (C. L. Koch, 1839) and one Olivierus sp. in vivo habitus are provided for the first time. The recent taxonomic changes are summarized. The monotypic genus Tibetiomachus (Hormuridae) with its single species T. himalayensis is considered a nomen dubium. The validity of the previously synonymized Scorpiops atomatus Qi et al., 2005 and S. validus (Di et al., 2010) (Scorpiopidae) is questioned, …

A New Species Of Chiromachetes Pocock, 1899 (Scorpiones: Hormuridae) From Southern Western Ghats, India, Akshay Khandekar, Tejas Thackeray, Swapnil Pawar, Satpal Gangalmale, Vivek Waghe

Euscorpius

No abstract provided.

Characterizing Endogenous Dicer Products To Unravel Novel Rnai Biogenesis Pathways, Jacob Oche Peter

Dissertations

ABSTRACT

RNA interference (RNAi) is a pervasive gene regulatory mechanism in eukaryotes based on the action of multiple classes of small RNA (sRNA). Exploiting RNAi pathways in non-model systems have great potential for creating potent RNAi technologies. Here, we accessed RNAi-mediated control of gene expression in the two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae (T. urticae) using engineered dsRNA designed to modulate the host RNAi pathway and increase RNAi efficacy. Analysis of Dicer (Dcr) generated fragments revealed how exogenous RNAs access the host RNAi pathway in this animal, opening avenues for designing RNAi technology for their control. Further, some organisms …

Maternal Responses In The Face Of Infection Risk, Patricia C. Lopes, Brenna M. G. Gormally, Aubrey Emmi, Delilah Schuerman, Chathuni Liyanage, Ursula K. Beattie, L. Michael Romero

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

When animals are sick, their physiology and behavior change in ways that can impact their offspring. Research is emerging showing that infection risk alone can also modify the physiology and behavior of healthy animals. If physiological responses to environments with high infection risk take place during reproduction, it is possible that they lead to maternal effects. Understanding whether and how high infection risk triggers maternal effects is important to elucidate how the impacts of infectious agents extend beyond infected individuals and how, in this way, they are even stronger evolutionary forces than already considered. Here, to evaluate the effects of …

A New Species Of Isometrus Ehrenberg, 1828 (Scorpiones: Buthidae) From Southeastern Plains Of Tamil Nadu, India, Shubhankar Deshpande, Gaurang Gowande, Deshabhushan Bastawade, Shauri Sulakhe

Euscorpius

We here describe a new species of Isometrus Ehrenberg, 1828 from the southeastern plains of Tamil Nadu, India, which is known only from its type locality, Chengalpattu. The new species was recovered as sister to Isometrus nakshatra based on a molecular phylogeny inferred from COI and 16S mitochondrial genes. Sequence divergence between the new species and all the Indian congeners was 12.6–15.7 % for COI and 12.2–14.4 % for 16S. The new species can also be differentiated from all the Indian congeners based on the following set of characters: surface of carapace with mixed (coarse and fine) and dense granulation; …

Comparing The Reproductive Fitness Of Fundulus Hybrids And Their Parental Species (Fundulus Olivaceus And Fundulus Notatus) Within Mississippi Freshwater Contact Zones, Sarah Stovall

Honors Theses

Hybridization of closely related taxonomic groups within the Animal Kingdom has led to complex species interactions that are not well understood. Pre-zygotic or post-zygotic barriers complicate hybridization as a means to diversify; however, diverging hybrids may speciate and expedite evolution of involved taxa. This study pursues understanding of these intricate interactions using topminnow Fundulus notatus, Fundulus olivaceus, and their hybrids from the Fundulus notatus species complex. Persisting hybrids within riverine contact zones were hypothesized to experience barriers of hybrid breakdown from lower fitness in comparison to the pure species. Specimens were collected within four contact zones: Spring River, …

Genomic Insights Into Mechanisms Of Microbial Evolution And Evolution-Inspired Strategies To Combat Pathogen Diversity, Saymon Akther

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

We live in an era of emerging infectious diseases that are increasingly common, rapidly spreading, and gravely devastating. Lyme disease, caused by bacteria belonging to the genus Borreliella, is rapidly rising in the Northern Hemisphere because of geographic range expansion of both the tick vectors and the pathogens. Evolutionary comparative analysis of Borreliella genomes is a key to understanding the phylogeographic history and mechanisms of their global diversification. Moreover, genomic variations in Borreliella associated with human pathogenicity, e.g., at loci encoding cell-surface antigens interacting with the vertebrate hosts, have not been fully identified. Similarly, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, caused …

Elucidating Mechanisms Of Biofluorescence And Bioluminescence In Marine Organisms, Andrew M. Guarnaccia

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Biofluorescence and bioluminescence are two methods of light emission that entail separate mechanisms of action but end at the same process: a colorful display that have tremendous ecological and behavioral benefits, whether it be used to communicate with conspecifics, camouflage into a multicolored background, attract unsuspecting prey, or alert others to a predator. In biofluorescence, higher-energy, shorter wavelength light is absorbed then re-emitted as lower-energy, longer-wavelength light. Bioluminescence on the other hand entails a chemical reaction in which a small molecule is oxidized by an enzyme, creating a high-energy intermediate that sheds the excess energy in the form of visible …

Mycophagous Beetle Females Do Not Behave Competitively During Intrasexual Interactions In Presence Of A Fungal Resource, L. D. Mitchem, Vincent A. Formica, R. Debray, Dana E. Homer , '21, E. D. Brodie Iii

Biology Faculty Works

Intrasexual interactions can determine which individuals within a population have access to limited resources. Despite their potential importance on fitness generally and mating success especially, female–female interactions are not often measured in the same species where male–male interactions are well-defined. In this study, we characterized female–female interactions in Bolitotherus cornutus, a mycophagous beetle species native to Northeastern North America. We used dyadic, behavioral assays to determine whether females perform directly aggressive or indirectly exclusionary competitive behaviors. Polypore shelf fungus, an important food and egg-laying resource for B. cornutus females, is patchily distributed and of variable quality, so we tested …

A Tale Of Two Genomes: The Complex Interplay Between The Mitochondrial And The Nuclear Genomes, Abhilesh S. Dhawanjewar

School of Biological Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Mitochondria, the product of an ancient endosymbiotic event are pivotal to eukaryotic cells by synthesizing the majority of the cell’s ATP output. However, modern- day mitochondria are completely dependent on more than one thousand nuclear-encoded products for their function and the maintenance of their genomes. The fundamentally different ways in which the mitochondrial (mtDNA) and the nuclear (nucDNA) genomes are replicated and inherited lead to captivating coevolutionary dynamics between them. The aims of this dissertation are to investigate the coevolutionary dynamics between the mitochondrial and nuclear genomes at three distinct biological scales. At the organismal level, we use a Drosophila …

Orthochirus Kovariki Sp. N. From Takhar Province, Afghanistan (Scorpiones: Buthidae), Ersen A. Yağmur, Faizurrahman Khalili

Euscorpius

A new species, Orthochirus kovariki sp. n. is described and illustrated based on both sexes from Takhar Province of Afghanistan. O. kovariki sp. n. appears to be close to O. feti Kovařík, 2004, reported from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan; both species have the movable finger of pedipalp without outer denticles. Detailed illustrations of O. kovariki sp. n. are given.

A New Scorpion Genus And Species From China, Qianxie Solegladi Gen. Et Sp.N. (Scorpiones: Pseudochactidae), Victoria Tang

Euscorpius

A new monotypic genus belonging to the basal scorpion family Pseudochactidae Gromov, 1998, Qianxie solegladi gen et. sp. n., is described from Yunnan Province of China. The family is recorded from China for the first time, vastly extending its known geographic range. The new genus shares morphological characters with both Pseudochactas Gromov, 1998 and Troglokhammouanus Lourenço, 2007. It differs from Pseudochactas and is similar to Troglokhammouanus in the shapes of anterior and posterolateral carapace margins, form of the circumocular sutures, distance between median ocelli, development of dorsoventral projection of patella, length of tarsal spinules, recurvature of the lateral margins and …