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Evolution and Mechanisms of Plasticity in Wild Baboons (Papio cynocephalus)
(2017)
In many species, early life experiences have striking effects on health, reproduction,
and survival in adulthood. Thus, early life conditions shape a range of evolutionarily
relevant traits, and in doing so alter ...
Habitat loss, alteration, and fragmentation in river networks: Implications for Freshwater Mussels and Their Landscape Genomics
(2017)
This dissertation focuses on the implications of habitat change in freshwater ecosystems.
Habitat change has three primary components that are inextricably connected; habitat
loss, alteration, and fragmentation. Habitat ...
Using Landscape Genomics to Conserve Adaptive Capacity: A Case Study with a Southern Appalachian Salamander
(2017)
Landscape genomics is an emerging field that investigates how environmental features
drive patterns of neutral and adaptive genetic variation across landscapes. Importantly,
landscape genomics can provide insight into the ...
Evolutionary and Ecological Factors Maintaining Apomixis in Boechera, a Wild Relative of Arabidopsis
(2015)
What evolutionary processes and ecological patterns underlie the maintenance of asexual
reproduction in natural populations? Although a vast body of literature offers theory
to explain the existence of sexual and asexual ...
The Roles of Phenotypic Plasticity and Plant-Microbe Interactions in the Evolution of Complex Traits in Boechera stricta
(2016)
All organisms live in complex habitats that shape the course of their evolution by
altering the phenotype expressed by a given genotype (a phenomenon known as phenotypic
plasticity) and simultaneously by determining the ...
Mechanisms of Habitat Segregation Between Co-Occurring Monkeyflower Species
(2017)
Closely related, ecologically similar species are often separated at a small scale
while being broadly sympatric. In Northern California’s coast range two monkeyflower
species, Mimulus guttatus and Mimulus nudatus co-occur ...
Phenotypic and Genetic Diversity in the Sea Urchin Lytechinus Variegatus
(2011)
Diversity in coloration is a common phenomenon in marine invertebrates, although the
ecological significance of the diversity is often unknown. Patterns of geographic
variability, particularly with respect to color phenotypes, ...
The Maintenance of Genetic Variation by Environmental Selection
(2013)
Understanding forces creating or maintaining the vast amount of biodiversity has been
a major task of biologists. Genetic variation plays a major role in the creation of
biodiversity because in contrast to environmental ...
The Evolution and Genetics of Reinforcement in Phlox Drummondii
(2010)
One of the major goals of evolutionary biology is understanding the process of species
formation. There is particular interest in how selection can favor species formation
through the process of reinforcement. When two ...
The Influence of Genetic Variation on Susceptibility of Common Bottlenose Dolphins (<italic>Tursiops truncatus</italic>) to Harmful Algal Blooms
(2014)
The capacity of marine organisms to adapt to natural and anthropogenic stressors is
an integral component of ocean health. Harmful algal blooms (HABs), which are one
of many growing threats in coastal marine ecosystems, ...