Browsing Biological Sciences by Title
Now showing items 1-20 of 98
The Adaptive Bleaching Hypothesis: Experimental Tests of Critical Assumptions
(2019-08-02)
Coral bleaching, the loss of color due to loss of symbiotic zooxanthellae or their pigment, appears to be increasing in intensity and geographic extent, perhaps related to increasing sea surface temperatures. The adaptive ...
Amphibian Speciation Rates Support a General Role of Mountains as Biodiversity Pumps
(2022-09-20)
Continental mountain areas cover <15% of global land surface, yet these regions concentrate >80% of global terrestrial diversity. One prominent hypothesis to explain this pattern proposes that high mountain diversities ...
Anatomy of the Laminar Organs of Commelina erecta (Commelinaceae)
(2021-01-27)
A study was undertaken to compare the anatomy of the laminar floral parts with that of the spathes and leaves of Commelina erecta L. Each flower has two types of petals and two types of sepals. In contrast to the other ...
Are we underestimating the genetic variances of dimorphic traits?
(2022-09-16)
Populations often contain discrete classes or morphs (e.g., sexual dimorphisms, wing dimorphisms, trophic dimorphisms) characterized by distinct patterns of trait expression. In quantitative genetic analyses, the different ...
Biogeochemical and Microbial Variation across 5500 km of Antarctic Surface Sediment Implicates Organic Matter as a Driver of Benthic Community Structure
(2019-04-29)
Western Antarctica, one of the fastest warming locations on Earth, is a unique environment that is underexplored with regards to biodiversity. Although pelagic microbial communities in the Southern Ocean and coastal Antarctic ...
Biomechanical factors influencing successful self-righting in the pleurodire turtle Emydura subglobosa
(2022-07-29)
Self-righting performance is a key ability for most terrestrial animals, and has been used as a metric of fitness, exhaustion and thermal limits in a variety of taxa. However, there is little understanding of the underlying ...
Bird assemblage response to restoration of fire‐suppressed longleaf pine sandhills
(2022-09-15)
The ecological restoration of fire‐suppressed habitats may require a multifaceted approach. Removal of hardwood trees together with reintroduction of fire has been suggested as a method of restoring fire‐suppressed longleaf ...
A Call to Develop Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) for Nonmajors Courses
(2022-03-11)
Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) for non-science majors (non-majors) are potentially distinct from CUREs for developing scientists in their goals, learning objectives, and assessment strategies. While ...
Classification of a Hypervirulent Aeromonas hydrophila Pathotype Responsible for Epidemic Outbreaks in Warm-Water Fishes
(2019-04-29)
Lineages of hypervirulent Aeromonas hydrophila (vAh) are the cause of persistent outbreaks of motile Aeromonas septicemia in warm-water fishes worldwide. Over the last decade, this virulent lineage of A. hydrophila has ...
Constantly fluctuating in an inconsistent way: comparing the effects of sinusoidal and naturally fluctuating incubation temperatures on embryo development
(2019-09-15)
Temperature is a commonly studied environmental factor influencing embryo development in oviparous ectotherms. Though most studies use constant temperature incubation conditions, researchers are aware of the effects of ...
Contrasting evolution of virulence and replication rate in an emerging bacterial pathogen
(2020-05-26)
Host resistance through immune clearance is predicted to favor pathogens that are able to transmit faster and are hence more virulent. Increasing pathogen virulence is, in turn, typically assumed to be mediated by increasing ...
Crossing the Divide: Admixture Across the Antarctic Polar Front Revealed by the Brittle Star Astrotoma agassizii
(2019-07-31)
The Antarctic Polar Front (APF) is one of the most well-defined and persistent oceanographic features on the planet and serves as a barrier to dispersal between the Southern Ocean and lower latitudes. High levels of endemism ...
Data for A chromosome-level genome assembly for the Eastern Fence Lizard (Sceloporus undulatus), a reptile model for physiological and evolutionary ecology
(2021-04-16)
Background: High-quality genomic resources facilitate investigations into behavioral ecology, morphological and physiological adaptations, and the evolution of genomic architecture. Lizards in the genus Sceloporus have a ...
Data for: Adaptive seasonal shift towards investment in fewer, larger offspring: Evidence from field and laboratory studies
(2019-12-20)
1. Seasonal changes in reproduction have been described for many taxa. As reproductive seasons progress, females often shift from greater energetic investment in many small offspring towards investing less total energy ...
Data for: Ecologically relevant thermal fluctuations enhance offspring fitness: biological and methodological implications for studies of thermal developmental plasticity
(2020-08-03)
Natural thermal environments are notably complex and challenging to mimic in controlled studies. Consequently, our understanding of the ecological relevance and underlying mechanisms of organismal responses to thermal ...
Data for: Thermal tolerance in the urban heat island: Thermal sensitivity varies ontogenetically and differs between embryos of two sympatric ectotherms
(2019-09-09)
Most studies of thermal tolerance use adults, but early-life stages (e.g. embryos) are often more sensitive to thermal agitation. Studies that examine effects on embryos rarely assess the potential for thermal tolerance ...
Data from: Dumpsters and other human structures as habitat for invasive African rock agama lizards in Florida
(2021-03-22)
Invasive species often use habitat differently than native species and can benefit by using underutilized habitats during the invasion process. The Peter’s Rock Agama (Agama picticauda) — native to savannahs of sub-Saharan ...
The demographic basis of population regulation in Columbian ground squirrels
(2022-07-29)
Environmental factors influence the dynamics and regulation of biological populations through their influences on demographic variables, but demographic mechanisms of population regulation have received little attention. ...