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 19 of 19 for “"ecomorphology"”.
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Fish ecomorphology: predicting habitat preferences of stream fishes from their body shape
… provided the most accurate information. Ecomorphology offers a mechanistic and defensible method for identifying habitat preferences of fishes and should be more widely considered as a tool for establishing habitat relationships of stream fishes.
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The ecomorphology of facultative bipedality in Lepidosauria: implications for the evolution of reptilian bipedality
… anatomies, I performed multiple studies into the ecomorphology and evolution of this behaviour in a modern clade: Lepidosauria. Linear morphometric studies accounting for variation in body size indicate that forelimb segment lengths across locomotor modes do not differ for lepidosaurs of the same …
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Assessing competition during the transition from jawless to jawed vertebrates with morphometrics, ecomorphology, and comparative biomechanics
Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'Closed Access', the embargo will last until 2025-05-01
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The Multituberculates as Living Animals: New Insights into the Ecomorphology, Behavior, and Life History of One of the Most Successful Mammalian Lineages
… and bone histology to shed further light on the ecomorphology, behavior, and life history of multituberculates. In particular, this dissertation focuses on the fossil record of the multituberculate subgroup Cimolodonta from the Late Cretaceous through early Paleogene of the Western Interior of …
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Ecomorphological and Ecometric Approaches to Clarifying Homo sapiens Palaeoecology
… palaeoecological methods - bovid astragalus ecomorphology and dental ecometrics - to bring new and added perspectives on the ecological and environmental context in which Homo sapiens and other hominin relatives evolved. Ecomorphology is initially used to create models capable of predicting …
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Ecomorphological differences between sister species, Rhinolophus capensis and Rhinolophus swinnyi
… of these species, I examine differences in the ecomorphology of these bats in their current distributions. R. capensis is bigger than R. swinnyi, with corresponding differences in echolocation call signatures and wing morphology.
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Evolutionary palaeoecology of the megaherbivorous dinosaurs from the Dinosaur Park Formation (upper Campanian) of Alberta, Canada
… hypothesis by examining several aspects of ecomorphology known to relate to the procurement and mastication of food. These include feeding height, skull and beak morphology, jaw mechanics, and tooth morphology and wear. Evidence is sought for taxonomic separation in ecomorphospace, …
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Developmental, ecological and biological drivers of macroevolutionary trajectories of postcranial morphological diversification in bats
… understanding of the evolution of bat forelimb ecomorphology has been limited by the lack of a robust fossil record. Quantitative morphometrics, 3D virtual imaging and phylogenetic comparative methods have innovated evolutionary studies of comparative and functional morphology. The objective of …
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Insular adaptations in the appendicular skeleton of Sicilian and Maltese dwarf elephants
… Middle Pleistocene, or alternatively relate to ecomorphology. These findings suggest that the morphology of the calcaneus may be more informative than hitherto recognised for resolving systematics and taxonomy among the Elephantini. Furthermore, although the absolute chronology of SiculoMaltese …
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Assessing primate skull shape variation in relation to habitat: a 3D geometric morphometric approach
… procedure for future studies regarding hominin ecomorphology. This was achieved by pilot testing laser scanning hardware, digitising cranial and mandibular specimen, testing 3D scanning accuracy, and the best practice for capturing accurate 3D imagery, e.g. environment, lighting and meshing …
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Investigating the trophic ecologies of early life stages of small pelagic fishes in the Benguela upwelling ecosystem
… larvae through distinct differences in their ecomorphology. Sardines exhibit traits in their development such as increased relative gut length, that would suggest a higher degree of herbivory compared to anchovy. Contrastingly, anchovy display positive allometric growth patterns in their …
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Assessing sources of variation in amphibian skin thickness: ecological and evolutionary implications
The skin is the largest organ of the body and provides many functions. Among tetrapod vertebrates, amphibian skin is semi-permeable and responsible for a greater proportion of water absorption and gas exchange. Myriad factors affect the physiological performance of amphibian skin. Morphological …
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Kinetics and Energetics of Feeding Behaviors in Daubentonia madagascariensis
<p>The primary aim of this thesis was to quantify the ways Daubentonia uses its specialized feeding apparatus during naturalistic feeding behaviors. This can be divided into two main objectives. The first objective was to better understand how these extreme specializations function in the …
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Foraging ecology, sexual selection, and divergence in sunfish (Lepomis spp.)
The origins of novel traits and their contribution to biodiversity have long been of interest to biologists. My research focused on the links between foraging ecology and both natural and sexual selection, and how these mechanisms interact to shape the phenotypic diversification of natural …
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Avian ecology and rapid morphological change in a novel plant-frugivore system
Novel ecosystems are increasingly common, and the stability and functioning of novel ecosystems depends on the ability of species to fulfil functional roles such as seed dispersal. The morphology and foraging behavior of non-native species can influence their ability to fulfil functional roles; …
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Home Field Advantage: Sprint Sensitivity to Ecologically Relevant Substrates in Lizards
Effectively moving across variable substrates is important to all terrestrial animals. Much attention has been given to the effects of different substrates on locomotor performance in an attempt to link ecology and morphology. Sprint sensitivity is the decrease in sprint speed due to change in …
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Mammalian Postcranial Evolution and Primate Extinction in the Middle Eocene of North America
Primates constituted a dominant part of the mammalian faunas of North America during the early and middle parts of the Eocene: 55-46 ma). Beginning in the Uintan North American Land Mammal Age: 46-42 ma) primates declined in diversity and abundance in the Rocky Mountain region. This decline has …