Evolution Commons^™

Answers To Common Misconceptions About Biological Evolution, Leah M. Abebe, Blake Bartels, Kaitlyn M. Caron, Adam M. Gleeson, Samuel N. Johnson, Tyler J. Kluza, Nicholas W. Knopik, Kristen N. Kramer, Masiel S. Maza, Kaitlyn A. Stava, Kaitlyn Sullivan, Jordan T. Trimble, Robert M. Zink

Papers in Evolution

“When you have an established scientific emergent truth, it is true whether or not you believe in it.” Neil deGrasse Tyson, Science in America. Very few people outside of a particular scientific discipline can actually say they understand it, because most do not have the training to “speak the language.” They are then not particularly bothered by its tenets and predictions. Of all the major branches of science, however, evolutionary biology is an exception to this generalization because even though people are not versed in the field, they sometimes have a negative, knee-jerk objection. This objection is often because they …

Hexarray: A Novel Self-Reconfigurable Hardware System, Fady Hussein

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Evolvable hardware (EHW) is a powerful autonomous system for adapting and finding solutions within a changing environment. EHW consists of two main components: a reconfigurable hardware core and an evolutionary algorithm. The majority of prior research focuses on improving either the reconfigurable hardware or the evolutionary algorithm in place, but not both. Thus, current implementations suffer from being application oriented and having slow reconfiguration times, low efficiencies, and less routing flexibility. In this work, a novel evolvable hardware platform is proposed that combines a novel reconfigurable hardware core and a novel evolutionary algorithm.

The proposed reconfigurable hardware core is a …

Investigating The Genetic Basis For Hominoid Taillessness, Samantha M. Tickey-Mccrane, Holly Dunsworth, Johanna E. Wegener

Senior Honors Projects

Investigating the Genetic Basis for Hominoid Taillessness:

A Comparative Genetic Approach Across Ten Catarrhine Taxa

Samantha Tickey-McCrane1,2, Johanna E. Wegener2, and Holly Dunsworth1

Honors Thesis Abstract Written by Samantha Tickey-McCrane, Departments of Anthropology & Biology

Advisor: Dr. Holly Dunsworth, Department of Anthropology

How did hominoid tail loss occur? My goals are to test phylogenetic and adaptive hypotheses for tail length variation among macaques, and use those insights to reconstruct the evolution of hominoid taillessness. Further, I aim to ultimately uncover which candidate genes or pathways may be responsible for catarrhine tail loss, and what other traits may be affected by …

Cranial Morphological Distinctiveness Between Ursus Arctos And U. Americanus, Benjamin James Hillesheim

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Despite being separated by millions of years of evolution, black bears (Ursus americanus) and brown bears (Ursus arctos) can be difficult to distinguish based on skeletal and dental material alone. Complicating matters, some Late Pleistocene U. americanus are significantly larger in size than their modern relatives, obscuring the identification of the two bears. In the past, fossil bears have been identified based on differences in dental morphology or size. This study used geometric morphometrics to look at overall differences in cranial shape and used step-wise discriminant analysis to identify specific characters that distinguish cranial morphology between …

Behavioral Plasticity Across Non-Social Contexts In Female Green Swordtails, Xiphophorus Helleri, Lindsey M. Coit

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

Phenotypic plasticity is the ability of an individual to alter its phenotype in response to environmental change. Individuals that express plasticity in behavior can quickly respond to changes that occur in the environment. Therefore, individuals that exhibit behavioral plasticity can alter their behavioral expression to best match current environmental conditions. The degree and direction of behavioral plasticity may be influenced by variation in individual characteristics. Understanding how variation in individual traits affects behavioral plasticity, and, whether patterns of behavioral plasticity are consistent across behavioral contexts are important topics to explore as we try to better understand how plasticity evolves and …

Evolution: A Divine Interaction Between God And Creation, Hanna V. Larracas

Selected Honors Theses

The purpose of this paper is to provide a framework through relational theology for understanding the randomness evident in genetic variation which is an element within evolution. I propose that evolution can be incorporated into a theology of creation by placing evolution in context of the interaction of love between God and creation when interpreted through a framework of relational theology. Relational theology, as engaging God as primarily self-giving and holistically hospitable (towards God’s self in the Trinity and towards creation), provides space for a theological understanding of randomness genetic variation and mutation within the evolutionary process. Chapter 1 discusses …

Gregariousness Does Not Vary With Geography, Developmental Stage, Or Group Relatedness In Feeding Redheaded Pine Sawfly Larvae, John W. Terbot Ii, Ryan L. Gaynor, Catherine R. Linnen

Biology Faculty Publications

Aggregations are widespread across the animal kingdom, yet the underlying proximate and ultimate causes are still largely unknown. An ideal system to investigate this simple, social behavior is the pine sawfly genus Neodiprion, which is experimentally tractable and exhibits interspecific variation in larval gregariousness. To assess intraspecific variation in this trait, we characterized aggregative tendency within a single widespread species, the redheaded pine sawfly (N. lecontei). To do so, we developed a quantitative assay in which we measured interindividual distances over a 90-min video. This assay revealed minimal behavioral differences: (1) between early-feeding and late-feeding larval instars, …

The Epistemic Status Of Moral Conceptual Truths, Kara D. Boschert

Theses

Evolutionary debunking arguments assume that morality could, conceptually speaking, be about anything. A response to this contention is that there are some moral conceptual truths which counter assertions that we could be in error about basic moral truths. According to proponents of moral conceptual truths, some things, by definition, cannot count as moral. Putative moral conceptual truths, such as “stealing is wrong,” are thought to enjoy a privileged epistemic status because anyone who denies them forfeits their ability to engage in competent moral reasoning. This paper explores whether moral conceptual truths can offer a satisfactory response to the debunkers’ premise …

Phylogenetic And Ecological Analysis Of Two Populations Of The Kitsatchie Painted Crayfish, Orconectes Maletae (Decapoda: Cambaridae), Larrimy Beth Brown

Biology Theses

The primary aim of this study was to assess the conservation status of the East Texas population of the Kistachie Painted Crayfish, Orconectes maletae. Orconectes maletae has been given a Global Heritage Ranking of G2, or imperiled, because of population declines in the Kisatchie Bayou drainage in Louisiana; however, similar data for Texas is lacking. For the current study, surveys of 25 historical sites in Texas were conducted in the Cypress Creek and Caddo Lake drainage from June to August 2014 and revealed that O. maletae was either absent or in low enough abundance to evade detection at close …

Does High Relatedness Promote Cheater-Free Multicellularity In Synthetic Lifecycles?, R F. Inglis, E Ryu, O Asikhia, Joan E. Strassmann, David C. Queller

Biology Faculty Research

The evolution of multicellularity is one of the key transitions in evolution and requires extreme levels of cooperation between cells. However, even when cells are genetically identical, noncooperative cheating mutants can arise that cause a breakdown in cooperation. How then, do multicellular organisms maintain cooperation between cells? A number of mechanisms that increase relatedness amongst cooperative cells have been implicated in the maintenance of cooperative multicellularity including single-cell bottlenecks and kin recognition. In this study, we explore how relatively simple biological processes such as growth and dispersal can act to increase relatedness and promote multicellular cooperation. Using experimental populations of …

Scorpions Of The Horn Of Africa (Arachnida: Scorpiones). Part Xi. Pandinurus Kmoniceki Sp. N. Somaliland., František Kovařík, Graeme Lowe, Tomáš Mazuch, Jana Plíškova, František Šťáhlavský

Euscorpius

Pandinurus kmoniceki sp. n. from Somaliland is described and fully complemented with color photos of live and preserved specimens, as well as its habitat. Hemispermatophore of P. kmoniceki sp. n. is illustrated and described. In addition to the analyses of external morphology and hemispermatophores, we also describe the karyotypes of P. kmoniceki sp. n. (2n=120).

Body Shape Diversification Of Pecos Pupfish (Cyprinodon Pecosensis) On Varying Habitats As Evaluated By Geometric Morphometrics, Qianna Xu

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

During the 19th and 20th centuries, alterations to the Pecos River in New Mexico and Texas, USA due to anthropogenic activities, including damning and river channelization, vast water extraction for irrigation, as well as pollution of associated habitats, have greatly impacted the fish fauna within the drainage. One of the endemic fish species, the Pecos pupfish (Cyprinodon pecosensis), might be the most affected. Historically abundant and widespread large populations have been disrupted and became a series of small isolated subpopulations that persist at a few highly fragmented habitats restricted to a small area in southern New Mexico. The connectivity among …

Integrating The Field Of Prebiotic Chemistry Into A Christian Worldview, Matthew B. Anderson

Senior Honors Theses

This thesis will provide an overarching examination into the scientific field of prebiotic chemistry, the purported chemistry of the formation of life on earth. Prebiotic chemistry is a critical area of science particularly for Christian scientists to study since it is used by many evolutionists as evidence for the evolution of life, rather than the formation by an intelligent designer. Extensive literature-based research from previously published articles will be conducted on the formation of biologically necessary molecules, including amino acids. Primary focus will be placed on the formation of amino acids in a primordial earth environment, first demonstrated by the …

Phylogenetic Studies Of The Madagascan Freshwater Crabs (Potamoidea, Potamonautidae, Deckeniinae), Rainee Stevens

All NMU Master's Theses

Relationships within the Madagascan freshwater crab fauna were examined based on unstudied specimens from all parts of Madagascar. This study allowed the examination of the validity of existing genera and species, and identified potential new taxa. The new specimens provided phylogenetic and evolutionary data, as well as new insights into the distribution patterns of the Malagasy freshwater crab fauna. In addition, the large number of new localities from previously unsurveyed areas of Madagascar allowed the construction of updated distribution maps.

The present analysis included 62 unidentified specimens plus 13 identified species of Malagasy freshwater crab taxa that had already been …

Social Amoebae Mating Types Do Not Invest Unequally In Sexual Offspring, T E. Douglas, David C. Queller, Joan E. Strassmann

Biology Faculty Research

Unequal investment by different sexes in their progeny is common and includes differential investment in the zygote and differential care of the young. The social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum has a sexual stage in which isogamous cells of any two of the three mating types fuse to form a zygote which then attracts hundreds of other cells to the macrocyst. The latter cells are cannibalized and so make no genetic contribution to reproduction. Previous literature suggests that this sacrifice may be induced in cells of one mating type by cells of another, resulting in a higher than expected production of macrocysts …

Some Taxonomic Corrections To The Genus Tityus C. L. Koch, 1836 (Scorpiones: Buthidae) In Hispaniola, Greater Antilles, Rolando Teruel

Euscorpius

In the present paper, the taxonomic status of several Hispaniolan members of the genus Tityus C. L. Koch, 1966 is revised after examination of almost all primary types and abundant supplementary material. This resulted in six new synonymies, which involve both extant and fossil species. The extant taxa herein synonymized are Tityus anasilviae Armas et Abud, 2004 under Tityus ottenwalderi Armas, 1999, Tityus bahoruco Teruel et Armas, 2006 under Tityus crassimanus (Thorell, 1876), Tityus ebanoverde Armas, 1999 under Tityus elii Armas et Marcano, 1992, and Tityus septentrionalis Armas et Abud, 2004 under Tityus portoplatensis Armas et Marcano, 1992. The fossil …

Patterns Of Morphological And Molecular Evolution In The Antillean Tree Bat, Ardops Nichollsi (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae), Roxanne J. Larsen, Peter A. Larsen, Caleb D. Phillips, Hugh H. Genoways, Gary G. Kwiecinski, Scott C. Pedersen, Carleton J. Phillips, Robert J. Baker

University of Nebraska State Museum: Mammalogy Papers

Species endemic to oceanic islands offer unique insights into the mechanisms underlying evolution and have served as model systems for decades. Often these species show phenotypic variation that is correlated with the ecosystems in which they occur and such correlations may be a product of genetic drift, natural selection, and/or environmental factors. We explore the morphologic and genetic variation within Ardops nichollsi, a species of phyllostomid bat endemic to the Lesser Antillean islands. Ardops nichollsi is an ideal taxon to investigate the tempo of evolution in Chiroptera, as it: is a recently derived genus in the family Phyllostomidae; contains …

Taxonomic Placement Of The Nidulariaceae Of Nebraska And Iowa Based On Molecular And Morphological Data, Goodmond H. Danielsen Iv

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Proper taxonomic and molecular study is necessary to better organize closely related species that may not only be used for human needs, but also in the quest for knowledge of how the world around us works. Though important, the taxonomic placement of Nebraskan and Iowan bird’s nest fungi (Nidulariaceae) is not well documented. Here, phylogenetic analysis is used to place the Nidulariaceae of Nebraska and Iowa in the tree of life using molecular and morphological techniques. Based on these results and results of further work done on these specimens, it will be possible to better place the Nidulariaceae of Nebraska …

Serradigitus Miscionei, The First Vaejovid Scorpion To Exhibit Parthenogenesis, Richard F. Ayrey

Euscorpius

Thelytokous parthenogenesis (all-female broods) is strongly suggested for the vaejovid species Serradigitus miscionei (Vaejovidae) from southern Arizona, USA. This conclusion is based on the examination of 187 specimens and 15 broods, all determined as females.

The Missing Piece Of The Puzzle Solved: Heteronebo Pocock, 1899 (Scorpiones: Scorpionidae) Occurs At Isla De Pinos, Cuba, Rolando Teruel, Tomás M. Rodríguez-Cabrera

Euscorpius

The diplocentrine scorpion genus Heteronebo Pocock, 1899 is recorded herein for the first time from Isla de Pinos, southwestern Cuba. A total of 15 specimens of Heteronebo bermudezi (Moreno, 1938) were collected in two nearby localities of the southern coast of the island, where it occurs in exactly the same habitat previously known for this species in Guanahacabibes Peninsula and two cays of Canarreos Archipelago. The allegedly polytypic status of this species is also revised and full species rank is restored to the subspecies Heteronebo bermudezi morenoi (Armas, 1973). An updated distribution map of H. bermudezi is provided.