Ecology & Evolutionary Biology Dissertations and Theses
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Phylogenomic systematics, bioacoustics, and morphology of frogs from Madagascar reveals that background noise drives the evolution of high frequency acoustic signaling
(University of Kansas, 2019-12-31)Madagascar is considered a globally important biodiversity hotspot, having some of the highest rates of species endemism in the world and has been the focus of substantial effort from researchers to understand the evolution ... -
Evolution of Sexual Signals in the Drosophila saltans Species Group
(University of Kansas, 2019-12-31)The complex courtship signaling of three of the four species groups of the Sophophora subgenus (e.g., melanogaster, obscura, and willistoni) has been studied. In this dissertation, I examined the complex courtship signaling ... -
Redescription of Wushaichthys exquisitus and phylogenetic revision of Thoracopteridae
(University of Kansas, 2019-12-31)Wushaichthys exquisitus, a small fish from the Middle Triassic of Guizhou Province, China, was named and studied by Xu et al. (2015), and Xu et al. interpreted it as the most primitive species in the family Thoracopteridae ... -
Mathematical Modeling of Neisseria meningitidis: A Case Study of Nigeria
(University of Kansas, 2019-12-31)Bacterial meningitis remains one of the deadliest infectious diseases in the African meningitis belt. It is defined as an acute inflammation of the meninges, the protective membranes that cover the brain and spinal cord. ... -
On the nature of genetic variation in yellow monkeyflower (Mimulus guttatus): combining theoretical and empirical approaches
(University of Kansas, 2019-08-31)Evolution via natural selection requires standing variation in a population while simultaneously diminishing it at loci under selection, a paradox that continues to vex evolutionary biologists. The work presented here ... -
A revision of the genus Colletes in America north of Mexico (Hymenoptera, Colletidae)
(University of Kansas, 1952-05-31)The bee genus Collates abounds in America north of the tropic of Cancer and is widely distributed throughout the world, with the exception of Australia. This study is limited to those species occurring in America north of ... -
A reclassification of Western Hemisphere Typhlocybinae (Homoptera, Cicadellidae)
(University of Kansas, 1951-05-31) -
Speciation and distribution of the crayfishes of the Ozark Plateaus and Ouachita provinces
(University of Kansas, 1951-05-31) -
The development of the cotton rat, Sigmodon hispidus Texianus (Audubon and Bachman, 1853), through the first nine and one half days of gestation
(University of Kansas, 1952-08-31) -
A monograph of the Saldidae (Hemiptera) of North and Central America and the West Indies
(University of Kansas, 1949-05-31) -
The Pangoniinae (Diptera: Tabanidae) of Nearctic America
(University of Kansas, 1933-05-31) -
The effect of temperature and the critical thermal increment for several species of amebas
(University of Kansas, 1933-05-31) -
Hydrogeomorphic drivers of functional diversity in riverine fishes at an intercontinental scale
(University of Kansas, 2019-05-31)Functional diversity (FD) has been used as a metric to gauge the health and stability of fish communities in many different environments, but few studies have examined FD on an intercontinental scale. This study formally ... -
High supply, high demand: A unique nutrient addition decouples nitrate uptake and metabolism in a large river
(University of Kansas, 2019-05-31)Our current understanding of the relationship between nitrate (NO3-) uptake and energy cycling in rivers is primarily built on studies conducted in low-nutrient (NO3- < 1 mg-N L-1), small (discharge < 1 m3 s-1) systems. ... -
Phylogenetic and Biogeographic Analysis of Cretaceous Spatangoid Echinoids from the Western Interior Seaway
(University of Kansas, 2019-05-31)Members of the echinoid order Spatangoida, a highly diverse and abundant marine invertebrate clade, were important denizens of the Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway (WIS), an epicontinental seaway that divided North America ... -
Dancing in the Dark: The evolution of visually mediated courtship behaviors and sexual dimorphisms in spotted winged Drosophila
(University of Kansas, 2019-05-31)I employed a multidisciplinary approach to examine the function and evolution of sexual dimorphisms, male wing spots and male wing displays, across four species subgroups of Drosophila. In chapter one, I explored the ... -
Wild bee responses to land use change: investigating the role of bee body size
(University of Kansas, 2019-05-31)Land use change impacts biodiversity through many facets including an alteration of habitat and the resources required to sustain species and populations. Wild bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) are essential pollinators for many ... -
Relationships between bruchid beetles (Amblycerus robiniae) and honey locust trees (Gleditsia triacanthos)
(University of Kansas, 1971-12-31)This study concerns the relationships between the bruchid beetle Amblycerus robiniae and the honey locust tree Gleditsia triacanthos. Since Amblycerus concentrates specifically on Gleditsia, and on specific parts of this ... -
Evolution of novel genetic programs: insights from flower and fruit development
(University of Kansas, 2019-08-31)An outstanding question in evolutionary biology is how genetic programs (interaction between multiple genes or their products) that define novel phenotypes evolve. There are two major ways such genetic programs that define ... -
Population ecology of the softshell turtle, Trionyx muticus
(University of Kansas, 1976-05-31)Nesting success of Trionyx muticus was studied during two field seasons from individually marked nests, Supplementary information was obtained from eggs subjected to submersion experiments in the laboratory, Open areas on ...