University of South Carolina
On the Effects of Stress, Resistance to Stress, and Developmental Stability On Life History Characters In <em>Drosophila Melanogaster</em>
Abstract
dc:description.abstract<p>All organisms experience some stress during development, and have mechanisms for countering the effects of stress. The mechanisms are costly, and if the stress is great enough, force trade-offs with other life history characters. These trade-offs may result in divergences from the optimal phenotype seen in unstressed individuals. <em>Drosophila melanogaster</em> fruit flies derived from populations collected near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant where they had been chronically exposed to low-level ionizing radiation for generations, and flies exposed to ionizing radiation in the laboratory, showed some disturbances in their recombination rates, their gonadal development, and their developmental stability as measured by fluctuating asymmetry. The theoretical implications of this and other stresses and selection pressures that may be operating in <em>Drosophila melanogaster</em> and other taxa are discussed.</p>
Degree
thesis:*- Name thesis:degree_name
- PhD
- Level thesis:degree_level
- Campus Access Dissertation
- Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
- Biological Sciences
- Year
- 2009
Author and committee
dc:creator, dc:contributor.*- Author dc:creator
-
- Fuller, Brent Alan
- Contributors dc:contributor
-
- Timothy A. Mousseau
Subjects
dc:subject × 3Rights
dc:rights- Statement dc:rights
-
- © 2009, Brent Alan Fuller
Identifiers
dc:identifier.*- Repository record dc:identifier
- https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/31
- OAI identifier oai:identifier
- oai:scholarcommons.sc.edu:etd-1032