Global ETD Search
Search theses and dissertations gathered from participating repositories worldwide. Every result links back to the library that holds it. No account is needed.
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Showing 1 to 20 of 26 for “"Trait evolution"”.
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Bayesian phylogenetic models for relaxed clock and trait evolution
… of data provides signi cant information of evolution, phylogenetic inference of larger data sets requires more e cient MCMC methods. In the meantime, it remains challenging to estimate phylogenetic trees relying merely on molecular data, especially when fossils and extinct species are …
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Sexual Dimorphism and Trophic Trait Evolution in the Carolina Bay Fundulus Complex
Convergent evolution in similar environments is widely held to provide some of the strongest evidence for natural selection's role in evolution, and convergent or parallel evolution of reproductive isolation, best studied in some fish systems, has been interpreted as evidence of selection's role in …
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Hiding in plain sight: accounting for rate heterogeneity in trait evolution models
… work on two main themes. First, most phenotypic evolution is not independent of other phenotypes. Changes in a particular character may influence changes in another and modeling these characters in isolation can mislead our inferences. Second, evolutionary change is heterogeneous. Not all species …
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Major transitions in the plant tree of life: insights from genes, genomes and traits
The evolution of plants transformed the Earth’s surface, atmosphere and climate and enabled the colonisation of new habitats, promoting the diversity of other lineages spanning the tree of life. The evolutionary history of plants has been marked by major transitions such as multicellularity, …
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ECOLOGICAL AND EVOLUTIONARY DRIVERS OF SPECIES DISTRIBUTIONS IN THE GRASSY BIOME
… of global datasets (e.g., remote sensing, trait consortiums) there is a growing awareness of climate disequilibrium in vegetation and the important and interacting roles of disturbance, phylogenetic history, biogeographic historical contingency, and local community processes. It appears …
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THE ECOLOGICAL IMPORTANCE AND EVOLUTIONARY POTENTIAL OF PHENOTYPIC PLASTICITY IN NOVEL ENVIRONMENTS
… of individuals and thus the demography and even evolution of a population. Having environmentally relevant phenotypic responses could be especially important when a population encounters novel environments, where extinction risks are high such as at the edge of geographic ranges or when there are …
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Frontline interactions between avian interspecific brood parasites and their hosts
… thesis examines some aspects of the ecology and evolution of the interactions between avian brood parasites and their hosts. Evidence of coevolution, reciprocal evolution, between avian interspecific brood parasites and hosts is evident at all stages of the host nesting cycle. The first chapter …
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Frontline interactions between avian interspecific brood parasites and their hosts
… thesis examines some aspects of the ecology and evolution of the interactions between avian brood parasites and their hosts. Evidence of coevolution, reciprocal evolution, between avian interspecific brood parasites and hosts is evident at all stages of the host nesting cycle. The first chapter …
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High Precision Binary Trait Association on PhylogeneticTrees
… study (GWAS) methods fail to account for shared evolutionary history, confounding association analyses. Microbial GWAS approaches emerged to address this, but modern methods often lack the statistical power to detect associations while controlling false discoveries, and face computational limits …
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The Relative Roles of Herbivore- and Pollinator-mediated Selection on the Evolution of Floral Display in the Invasive Plant, Lythrum salicaria
Studies assessing the evolution of plant traits frequently focus on pollinators as the primary drivers of floral trait evolution. However, herbivores can also play a role, and, under some circumstances, may even impose stronger selection on floral display than pollinators. This is especially true …
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Evolutionary co-option of trap-jaw ant mandible strikes: defensive interactions with antlions
The co-option of existing traits for novel functions is fundamental to many theories of trait evolution, but relatively few studies have examined evolutionary co-option at a behavioral level. Trap-jaw ants in the genus Odontomachus have a rapid and powerful mandible snap that is used during …
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Evolutionary Dynamics of Brown Treesnake (Boiga irregularis) Reproductive Ecology, with Implications for Invasive Species Control
… ecology with selection, genetic variation, and trait heritability. In this dissertation, I considered the evolutionary consequences of these aspects with regard to the management of a quintessential invasive species, the Brown Treesnake (Boiga irregularis=BTS) on Guam. I used 654 single …
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Evolution of Floral Morphology and Symmetry in the Miconieae (Melastomataceae)
<p>Analyses of evolution of floral morphology and symmetry broaden our understanding of the drivers of angiosperm diversification. Integrated within a flower, labile floral characters produce different phenotypes that promote variable interactions with pollinators. Thus, investigation of floral …
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The evolutionary history and impact of polyploidy in mustard crops and their relatives
… provide raw material for the emergence of novel traits. The two primary mechanisms for gene duplication are polyploidy events, which result in whole genome duplications or triplications (WGD, WGT), and small-scale duplications (SSD). Together, these processes play a crucial role in plant …
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Mechanisms Promoting Spatial and Temporal Variability in Plant Defense
… and goldenrod resistance, tolerance, and fitness traits, and assessed whether the spatial structure of defense was correlated with edaphic conditions and neighboring plant community. I then conducted a common garden experiment to empirically measure genetic variability of resistance and tolerance …
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Microevolutionary processes in natural populations of the waterstrider Aquarius remigis
Traits are often assumed to be optimal, but evolution may be constrained by genetics, the adaptive landscape, development, and functional limitations. Optimal body size is determined by the net effect of selection acting throughout the life history of the organism. Body size is correlated between …
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The legacy of macroevolution: understanding and predicting evolutionary responses to novel environments
… Two factors that play an important role are evolutionary constraints and contingencies. Evolutionary constraints are limitations on how species can adapt and change imposed by past evolutionary history, which could be driven by genetic, developmental, or functional variation. Evolutionary …
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Firestorms in a mesic savanna-forest mosaic
… between bark thickness and commonly measured traits in order to understand trait evolution in response to fire regime and other selective pressures such as herbivory and drought. Using aerial photographs from six time periods between 1937 and 2013, I mapped vegetation changes in Hluhluwe …
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Functional traits and resource-use strategies of native and invasive plants in Eastern North American forests
… plants with this advantage. Here, I compared traits of native and invasive shrub and liana species in Eastern North American (ENA) forests to test the overarching hypothesis that non-native understory species invasive to this region have superior resource-use strategies, or alternatively, they …
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The Evolution of Orthopteran Mating Systems and the Reproductive Ecology of New Zealand Cave Wētā
… has long been recognised as driving the evolution of diverse morphological and behavioural traits in animals. Decades of concerted research into the topic has uncovered reproductive adaptations ranging from the beautiful to the horrific, and insects provide some of the most striking …
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