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Ecology & Evolutionary Biology Dissertations and Theses: Recent submissions
Now showing items 241-260 of 349
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SYSTEMATICS AND EVOLUTION IN THE TRIBE SCHIZOPETALAE (BRASSICACEAE): A MOLECULAR, MORPHOLOGICAL, AND ECOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE DIVERSIFICATION OF AN ENDEMIC LINEAGE FROM THE ATACAMA DESERT (CHILE)
(University of Kansas, 2013-12-31)As aridity has been identified as an active promoter of diversification in deserts, attempts to test organismal differentiation in the Atacama Desert have resulted particularly challenging. Most limitations are related to ... -
Diversification of the tropical Pacific avifauna
(University of Kansas, 2013-12-31)I investigated the origins and diversification of Pacific avifaunas. Chapters 1, 2, and 4 elucidate the evolutionary history of three classically polytypic species complexes of Pacific island birds using multilocus ... -
Islands and Integrals: Processes of Diversification in an Island Archipelago and Bayesian Methods of Comparative Phylogeographical Model Choice
(University of Kansas, 2013-12-31)Understanding the processes that generate, maintain, and regulate the assembly of biodiversity is a major goal of evolutionary biology. An important component of this goal is understanding how large-scale processes cause ... -
Glacial Tree Physiology: Using Stable Isotopes to Reconstruct Plant Responses to Environmental Change Since the Last Glacial Period
(University of Kansas, 2013-05-31)Increases in atmospheric [CO2] (CO2 concentration) over the last several hundred years have resulted in a current level of just under 400 ppm and represent novel conditions for modern plants relative to their glacial ... -
Character evolution in light of phylogenetic analysis and taxonomic revision of the zooxanthellate sea anemone families Thalassianthidae and Aliciidae
(University of Kansas, 2013-05-31)Aliciidae and Thalassianthidae look similar because they possess both morphological features of branched outgrowths and spherical defensive structures, and their identification can be confused because of their similarity. ... -
Ecology, habitat preference, and conservation of Neotropical non-volant mammal communities in Costa Rica's Caribbean lowlands
(University of Kansas, 2013-05-31)Biodiversity in the tropics is continually being threatened by anthropogenic disturbances such as habitat degradation and fragmentation. Unfortunately, conservation decisions and management of wildlife are difficult tasks ... -
Drivers of plant and arthropod diversity and community structure in a grassland ecosystem
(University of Kansas, 2013-08-31)Forces operating at different spatial scales are known to influence species coexistence and community organization, although the relative importance of these forces is debated. While niche-based models emphasize the effect ... -
A molecular genetic investigation into gene flow and secondary contact in island sister taxa
(University of Kansas, 2013-08-31)Investigations of colonization patterns have contributed to fundamental advances in evolutionary and ecological theory. Once populations have differentiated, secondary contact can lead either to the reinforcement of species ... -
Transcriptomic evidence that enigmatic parasites Polypodium hydriforme and Myxozoa are cnidarians
(University of Kansas, 2013-08-31)Polypodium hydriforme and Myxozoa, represented in this study by Myxobolus cerebralis, are both enigmatic, intracellular parasites with very unusual life cycles and body plans, which has long made their phylogenetic placement ... -
Revision of the South American wasp genus Alophophion Cushman, 1947 (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae: Ophioninae)
(University of Kansas, 2013-08-31)The species of the strictly Neotropical ophionine wasp genus Alophophion Cushman, 1947 are revised. New descriptions of all previously named species are provided, except Alophophion holosericeus (Taschenberg, 1875) for ... -
An Anatomical Study of the Genus Echinacea
(The University of Kansas, 1962) -
A Comparative Survey of the Sting of Aculeate Hymenoptera
(The University of Kansas, 1955)It is the purpose of this survey to briefly review the earlier studies of hymenopteran stings, the terminologies and homologies of their parts, and to compare the gross anatomy of skeletal and muscular features of stings ... -
Aboveground-belowground interactions: Investigating the role of plant communities in structuring soil bacterial communities
(University of Kansas, 2012-08-31)Environmental heterogeneity is a traditional explanation for the biodiversity observed in nature and could be key in structuring soil microbial communities. From the soil microbe perspective, heterogeneity can be generated ... -
Multilocus phylogeny and Bayesian estimates of species boundaries reveal hidden evolutionary relationships and cryptic diversity in Southeast Asia water monitors (Genus Varanus)
(University of Kansas, 2012-05-31)Recent conceptual, technological, and methodological advances in phylogenetic systematics have enabled increasingly robust statistical species delimitation in empirical studies of biodiversity. As the diversity of lines ... -
Skeletal Variation in Melanesian Forest Frogs (Anura: Ceratobatrachidae)
(University of Kansas, 2012-05-31)Ceratobatrachidae is a ranoid family, which includes at least 87 described anuran species in six genera. Recent large-scale molecular phylogenies of Ranidae have shown strong support for the family's monophyly and 85 of ... -
<italic>Dordrechtites arcanus</italic>, an anatomically preserved gymnospermous reproductive structure from the Middle Triassic of Antarctica
(University of Kansas, 2012-05-31)The genus Dordrechtites is an isolated ovulate structure previously described only from South Africa and Australia as impressions. The discovery of compressed and permineralized specimens of this taxon at the base of Mt. ... -
Molecular phylogenetic and biogeography of Sphenomorphini (Squamata: Scincidae)
(University of Kansas, 2012-05-31)Sphenomorphini consists of 549 species in 34 genera, making it the most diverse skink tribes. Species diversity is highest in Southeast Asia with species found from the middle east, Asia, Australia, North and Central ... -
Historical Processes and Genetic Implications of Limb Reduction and Loss in an Island Skink Lineage
(University of Kansas, 2011-12-31)Evolutionary simplification, or loss of complex characters, is a major theme in studies of body form evolution. The apparently infrequent evolutionary reacquisition of complex characters has led to the assertion (Dollo's ... -
Phylogenetics of Aplanulata (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa) and the evolution and development of Ectopleura larynx
(University of Kansas, 2012-05-31)The model organism Hydra belongs to the hydrozoan clade Aplanulata. Despite being a popular model system for diverse fields of biological research, the morphology and development of Hydra are atypical of most hydrozoans. ... -
Geographies and Genealogies: Phylogeographic Simulation and Bayesian Approaches to Statistical Phylogeographic Model Selection
(University of Kansas, 2012-05-31)A wide class of biogeographic or phylogeographic studies predicts the simultaneous divergence of co-distributed taxa. Typically, a geological event, or a climate-related change in geography, is hypothesized to have structured ...