How Metamorphosis Is Different In Plethodontids: Larval Life History Perspectives On Life-Cycle Evolution,
2017
Butler University
How Metamorphosis Is Different In Plethodontids: Larval Life History Perspectives On Life-Cycle Evolution, Christopher K. Beachy, Travis Ryan, Ronald M. Bonett
Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS
Plethodontid salamanders exhibit biphasic, larval form paedomorphic, and direct developing life cycles. This diversity of developmental strategies exceeds that of any other family of terrestrial vertebrate. Here we compare patterns of larval development among the three divergent lineages of biphasic plethodontids and other salamanders. We discuss how patterns of life-cycle evolution and larval ecology might have produced a wide array of larval life histories. Compared with many other salamanders, most larval plethodontids have relatively slow growth rates and sometimes exceptionally long larval periods (up to 60 mo). Recent phylogenetic analyses of life-cycle evolution indicate that ancestral plethodontids were likely direct …
Is Cooperative Memory Special? The Role Of Costly Errors, Context, And Social Network Size When Remembering Cooperative Actions,
2017
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Is Cooperative Memory Special? The Role Of Costly Errors, Context, And Social Network Size When Remembering Cooperative Actions, Jeffrey R. Stevens, Tim Winke
Jeffrey Stevens Publications
Theoretical studies of cooperative behavior have focused on decision strategies, such as tit-for-tat, that depend on remembering a partner’s last choices. Yet, an empirical study by Stevens et al. (2011) demonstrated that human memory may not meet the requirements that needed to use these strategies. When asked to recall the previous behavior of simulated partners in a cooperative memory task, participants performed poorly, making errors in 10–24% of the trials. However, we do not know the extent to which this task taps specialized cognition for cooperation. It may be possible to engage participants in more cooperative, strategic thinking, which may …
There’S More Than One Way To Climb A Tree: Limb Length And Microhabitat Use In Lizards With Toe Pads,
2017
Michigan State University
There’S More Than One Way To Climb A Tree: Limb Length And Microhabitat Use In Lizards With Toe Pads, Travis J. Hagey, Scott Hart, Matthew Vickers, Luke J. Harmon, Lin Schwarzkopf
Biology
Ecomorphology links microhabitat and morphology. By comparing ecomorphological associations across clades, we can investigate the extent to which evolution can produce similar solutions in response to similar challenges. While Anolis lizards represent a well-studied example of repeated convergent evolution, very few studies have investigated the ecomorphology of geckos. Similar to anoles, gekkonid lizards have independently evolved adhesive toe pads and many species are scansorial. We quantified gecko and anole limb length and microhabitat use, finding that geckos tend to have shorter limbs than anoles. Combining these measurements with microhabitat observations of geckos in Queensland, Australia, we observed geckos using similar …
The Inconvenient Truth About Thinking Chickens,
2017
Animal Studies Repository
The Inconvenient Truth About Thinking Chickens, Lori Marino
Animal Sentience
Original Abstract: Domestic chickens are members of an order, Aves, which has been the focus of a revolution in our understanding of neuroanatomical, cognitive, and social complexity. Some birds are now known to be on a par with many mammals in their intelligence, emotional sophistication, and social interaction. Yet views of chickens have largely remained unrevised in light of this new evidence. In this paper, I examine the data on cognition, emotions, personality, and sociality in chickens, exploring such areas as self-awareness, cognitive bias, social learning and self-control, and comparing their abilities with other birds and other vertebrates, particularly …
Climate-Driven Habitat Shifts In South America: Biogeography, Historical Demography, And Population Genomics Of Anole Lizards,
2017
CUNY Graduate Center
Climate-Driven Habitat Shifts In South America: Biogeography, Historical Demography, And Population Genomics Of Anole Lizards, Ivan Prates
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
Shifts in the geographic distribution of habitats over time can promote dispersal and vicariance, thereby influencing large-scale biogeographic patterns and ecological processes. The establishment of corridors of suitable habitat across previously disjunct yet ecologically similar regions has been widely linked to climate change over time. Such climate-mediated habitat changes may have played a key role in the assembly of tropical biotas, including those of Amazonia and the coastal Atlantic Forest in South America, two of the most diverse ecosystems on Earth. The history of biogeographic associations between tropical rainforest habitats in response to former climatic shifts, as well as their …
Comparative Phylogeographic, Population Genomic, And Selection Inference With Development Of Hierarchical Co-Demographic Models,
2017
CUNY Graduate Center
Comparative Phylogeographic, Population Genomic, And Selection Inference With Development Of Hierarchical Co-Demographic Models, Alexander Xue
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
Comparing demographic histories across assemblages of populations, species, and sister pairs has been a focus in phylogeography since its inception. Initial approaches utilized organelle genetic data and involved qualitative comparisons of genetic patterns for evaluating hypotheses of shared evolutionary responses to past environmental changes. This endeavor has progressed with coalescent model-based statistical techniques and advances in next-generation sequencing, yet there remains a need for methods that can analyze aggregated genomic-scale data from non-model organisms within a unified framework that considers individual taxon uncertainty and variance. To this end, the aggregate site frequency spectrum (aSFS), an expansion of the site frequency …
The Scorpion Fauna Of Mona Island, Puerto Rico (Scorpiones: Buthidae, Scorpionidae),
2017
Museo de Historia Natural “Tomás Romay”
The Scorpion Fauna Of Mona Island, Puerto Rico (Scorpiones: Buthidae, Scorpionidae), Rolando Teruel, Mel J. Rivera, Alejandro J. Sánchez
Euscorpius
The scorpion fauna of the small Mona Island (= Isla de Mona), located roughly midway between Hispaniola and Puerto Rico and administratively belonging to the latter, is herein revised. Three species are confirmed to occur: the buthids Centruroides bani Armas et Marcano Fondeur, 1987 and Heteroctenus abudi (Armas et Marcano Fondeur, 1987), plus the diplocentrine scorpionid Cazierius garridoi Armas, 2005. The previously recorded Heteronebo sp. is reexamined and deemed a mislabeled specimen of Heteronebo portoricensis Francke, 1978 from adjacent Puerto Rico. Also, Centruroides mariaorum Santiago-Blay, 2009 is demonstrated to be a junior synonym of C. bani (implying the first demonstrable …
Current Status Of American Bullfrog, Lithobates Catesbeianus, Invasion In Uruguay And Exploration Of Chytrid Infection,
2017
University of Richmond
Current Status Of American Bullfrog, Lithobates Catesbeianus, Invasion In Uruguay And Exploration Of Chytrid Infection, Gabriel Laufer, Noelia Gobel, Claudio Borteiro, Alvaro Soutullo, Claudio Martinez-Debat, Rafael O. De Sá
Biology Faculty Publications
The American bullfrog Lithobates catesbeianus is an invasive species that can strongly affect native amphibian communities through competition, predation, or introduction of diseases. This frog has invaded multiple areas in South America, for which niche models predict suitable environments across much of the continent. This paper reveals the state of the invasion of this species in Uruguay and its possible relationship with the chytrid pathogenic fungus, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis. Surveys at invaded sites were conducted from 2007 to 2015, identified two populations undergoing recent range expansion (one of them exponential), two populations that failed to establish, and a new record …
The Influence Of Phylogeny And Niche Differentiation On The Diets Of Malagasy Primates,
2017
CUNY Hunter College
The Influence Of Phylogeny And Niche Differentiation On The Diets Of Malagasy Primates, Rebekka S. Hughes
Theses and Dissertations
Previous studies have shown that haplorhine diet is affected by phylogeny; however, until now studies in Malagasy strepsirrhines were lacking. The evolution of differences in Malagasy primates’ diets appears to differ from the pattern shown in haplorhines. My results indicate that niche differentiation may be a stronger predictor of diet.
Hemiscorpius Shahii Sp. N. From Iran (Scorpiones: Hemiscorpiidae),
2017
Razi Vaccine and Serum Research Institute,
Hemiscorpius Shahii Sp. N. From Iran (Scorpiones: Hemiscorpiidae), František Kovařík, Shahrokh Navidpour, Michael E. Soleglad
Euscorpius
Hemiscorpius shahii sp. n. from Iran, Hormozgan Province, is described and compared with other species of Hemiscorpius genus. The new species is characterized mainly by total length of 84 (female) to 110.7 (male) mm and unique trichobothrial pattern of pedipalp patella. The number of external trichobothria on patella is 17–18 (5 eb, 4 esb, 2–3 em, 3 est, 3 et); the number of ventral trichobothria on patella is 14–16. This distinguishes H. shahii sp. n. from all other species of genus Hemiscorpius, which have 3 or 10–12 ventral trichobothria on patella, one or …
The Interommatidial Bristle Variability Of Diptera,
2017
Wayne State University
The Interommatidial Bristle Variability Of Diptera, Kimberly Palmer
Honors College Theses
Insects of the order Diptera are a popular biological model for understanding morphological trait evolution. One area of particular interest is the development of the compound eyes. While the development of ommatidia and photoreceptors has been thoroughly studied in this case, little attention has been paid to the interommatidial bristles (IOBs) present on the eyes of some dipteran families. A preliminary survey suggested that these bristles exhibit high variability among IOB families on multiple taxonomic levels and are not uniformly present or absent in any suborder of the Diptera. To confirm this observation, I conducted a literature search to …
Ecological Niche Modeling Of The Genus Papio,
2017
CUNY Hunter College
Ecological Niche Modeling Of The Genus Papio, Amanda J. Fuchs
Theses and Dissertations
Ecological niche modeling investigates how climatic variables have influenced taxonomic diversity in Papio. Models performed well suggesting climatic variables influence the distribution of baboon species. Niche overlap among all possible pairs of taxa determined that species exhibited significantly different niches. The results of these models support a parapatric speciation scenario.
Fleas Of The American Pika: Diversity And Biogeography In North America’S Intermountain West,
2017
Northern Michigan University
Fleas Of The American Pika: Diversity And Biogeography In North America’S Intermountain West, Niyomi Wijewardena
All NMU Master's Theses
American pikas (Ochotona princeps) are small mammals that are widely distributed across North America’s Intermountain West. Previous investigations revealed five geographically distinct mitochondrial lineages within O. princeps associated with different mountain systems of the Intermountain West. In contrast, diversity of endoparasitic helminths of pikas is not structured geographically in the same way. Instead, there are two primary parasite assemblages, one distributed across southwestern pika populations and one found across the northeastern part of the host range. These contrasting patterns suggest that the shared history of pikas and their parasites had different consequences for the evolutionary trajectories of these …
Revalidation Of Three Recently Synonymized Cuban Species Of Heteroctenus Pocock, 1893 (Scorpiones: Buthidae: Centruroidinae),
2017
Marshall University
Revalidation Of Three Recently Synonymized Cuban Species Of Heteroctenus Pocock, 1893 (Scorpiones: Buthidae: Centruroidinae), Luis F. De Armas
Euscorpius
The scorpion genus Heteroctenus Pocock, 1893 was restored from synonymy with Rhopalurus in a recent revision by Esposito et al. (2017). Here, we restore two eastern Cuban species Heteroctenus melloleitaoi (Teruel et Armas, 2006) and H. aridicola (Teruel et Armas, 2012) as valid species. They were synonymized by Esposito et al. (2017) under Heteroctenus junceus (Herbst, 1800), without examination of corresponding specimens and with erroneous interpretations of some aspects of the original descriptions. Heteroctenus granulimanus (Teruel, 2006) is also restored as a valid species. The subfamily Rhopalurusinae Bücherl, 1971 is regarded as a junior synonym of Cen-truroidinae Kraus, 1955.
The Second Record Of A Relict Akrav Israchanani Levy, 2007 (Scorpiones: Akravidae) From Levana Cave, Israel,
2017
Marshall University
The Second Record Of A Relict Akrav Israchanani Levy, 2007 (Scorpiones: Akravidae) From Levana Cave, Israel, Victor Fet, Michael E. Soleglad, Sergei L. Zonstein, Israel Naaman, Shlomi Lubaton, Boaz Langford, Amos Frumkin
Euscorpius
We report the remnants of five new scorpion specimens discovered dead in Levana Cave in Israel in December 2015. We confirm that they belong to the relict scorpion Akrav israchanani Levy, 2007 (Akravidae), famously described from the neighboring Ayyalon Cave, also from dead specimens. The details of morphology of the new specimens are given; they match completely the characters of A. israchanani redescribed by Fet, Soleglad & Zonstein (2011). This second record indicates a wider distribution of this unique cave scorpion, which, however, is extinct in both caves. There is still no evidence that live populations of this species exist.
Ethical Theories And Perspectives On End-Of-Life Decisions,
2017
Abilene Christian University
Ethical Theories And Perspectives On End-Of-Life Decisions, Lauren Skelton
Dialogue & Nexus
This paper approaches several different ethical theories to see how they interact with the issue of withdrawing and withholding life-sustaining care. After the theories of Utilitarianism, Kantian and Prima Facie Deontology, Virtue Ethics, and Evolutionary Ethics are explored at length, Deontological theories are proven to be the best decision-making guide from the perspective of both patients and those in policy-making positions. When used together, Kantian and Prima Facie Deontology offer the overall best combination of ethical instruction and personal freedom.
Ecofeminism: The Path Towards Healing The Earth,
2017
Abilene Christian University
Ecofeminism: The Path Towards Healing The Earth, Jamie Thompson
Dialogue & Nexus
The concept of the patriarchy, or any concept in which one group dominates another, is inseparable from the formation of human kind’s domination of nature. This domination of nature has led to the current the ecological crisis humanity faces. Those who deny climate change can admit to the massive amounts of pollution, trash, and deforestation. Despite this worsening economic crisis, those in power have been slow to react. Women can ultimately provide and lead the movement to solve this ecological crisis through the growing movement of Ecofeminism. In the philosophy of Ecofeminism, individuals recognize and reject western dualistic thinking that …
The Origins Of Morality,
2017
Abilene Christian University
The Origins Of Morality, Paulina Sanchez
Dialogue & Nexus
In modern society, there exists a standard for moral conduct that seems to reign universal over many societies of people. Pinpointing the origins of morality, however, can become problematic because of how one approaches what morality is and what its purpose is in society. Psychologists may point out the social constructs and norms that allow for morality to unfold. Evolutionary biologists may give evidence of human-related species that have developed similar behavioral standards. A Christian theologian may look to scripture in explaining a Creator who ordained that all abide by the standards of conduct most pleasing to this deity. Which …
The Altruistic Self,
2017
Abilene Christian University
The Altruistic Self, Nathan Dougherty
Dialogue & Nexus
Altruism as a purely naturalistic phenomenon self-defeats the term altogether; however, theology also makes unsubstantiated claims that some behaviors are purely selfless. I will first define various conceptual forms of altruism and then offer explanations of the term from neurological, evolutionary and psychological investigations. Despite the position that altruism can be reduced to a fantastical impossibility bearing neither the arms of science nor theology, it is also a fallacy to separate it from a religiously derived supernatural altruism that carries no implications for the realm of morality.
A New Taxonomy Of Altruism In Terms Of Prosocial Behaviors,
2017
Abilene Christian University
A New Taxonomy Of Altruism In Terms Of Prosocial Behaviors, Kristin Kaiser
Dialogue & Nexus
The definition of altruism has been studied, explained, and even confused by many scholars in various fields. The term itself has been inappropriately used to describe prosocial behaviors that do not fall within the definition of altruism. An evaluation of Grant Ramsey’s taxonomy of altruism, which includes biological altruism, psychological altruism, and helping altruism, proves that it is not adequate in categorizing organism’s behaviors. A new taxonomy, with the branches of kin selection, reciprocity, and aesthetic altruism, is presented and explained to clarify the definition of altruism and alleviate confusion about how to describe prosocial behaviors. Both naming systems are …
