Biological Sciences: Recent submissions
Now showing items 81-100 of 123
Landscape-level influences of terrestrial snake occupancy within the southeastern United States
(2020-04-02)
Habitat loss and degradation are thought to be the primary drivers of species
extirpations, but for many species we have little information regarding specific habitats that
influence occupancy. Snakes are of conservation ...
Fitness implications of seasonal climate variation in Columbian ground squirrels
(2020-04-01)
The influence of climate change on the fitness of wild populations is often studied in the context of the spring onset of the reproductive season. This focus is relevant for climate influences on reproductive success, but ...
Severe mammal declines coincide with proliferation of invasive Burmese pythons in Everglades National Park
(2020-04-01)
Invasive species represent a significant threat to global biodiversity
and a substantial economic burden. Burmese pythons, giant
constricting snakes native to Asia, now are found throughout
much of southern Florida, ...
Hard and Soft Anatomy in Two Genera of Dondersiidae (Mollusca, Aplacophora, Solenogastres)
(2020-02-26)
Phylogenetic relationships and identifications
in the aplacophoran taxon Solenogastres (Neomeniomorpha)
are in flux largely because descriptions of hard parts––
sclerites, radulae, copulatory spicules––and body shape
have ...
High-Throughput Sequencing Characterizes Intertidal Meiofaunal Communities in Northern Gulf of Mexico (Dauphin Island and Mobile Bay, Alabama)
(2019-12-20)
Abstract. Meiofauna are important components of food webs and for nutrient exchange between the benthos and water column. Recent studies have focused on these communities in the Gulf of Mexico due to potential impacts of ...
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 ...
Interspecific combat observed among viperid snakes
(2019-10-22)
nadiv: an R package to create relatedness matrices for estimating non-additive genetic variances in animal models
(2019-09-15)
1. The Non-Additive InVerses (nadiv) R software package contains functions to create and use non-additive genetic relationship matrices in the animal model of quantitative genetics.
2. This study discusses the concepts ...
Thermal Spikes Caused by the Urban Heat Island Effect Result in Differential Egg Survival of a Non-native Lizard (Anolis cristatellus)
(2019-09-15)
Embryonic development in ectotherms is very sensitive to abiotic nest conditions. In reptiles, high incubation temperatures often result in relatively short incubation periods and large hatching size, but extremely high ...
Thermal Spikes Caused by the Urban Heat Island Effect Result in Differential Egg Survival of a Non-native Lizard (Anolis cristatellus)
(2019-09-15)
Embryonic development in ectotherms is very sensitive to abiotic nest conditions. In reptiles, high incubation temperatures often result in relatively short incubation periods and large hatching size, but extremely high ...
Does season-dependent reproductive value of offspring drive the evolution of life-history traits in Anolis lizards?
(2019-09-15)
An important component of the reproductive strategy of many animals involves a seasonal shift in reproductive traits (i.e., clutch size, egg quality). Such shifts typically occur because environmental factors that influence ...
Embryological development and global change: how do reptile embryos respond to thermal stress in urban environments?
(2019-09-15)
Two components of global change, climate change and urbanization, both contribute to increased ambient temperatures that may induce heat stress or mortality in animals. Each phenomenon independently results in both increased ...
Embryo development and global change: how do reptile embryos respond to ecologically relevant thermal stress?
(2019-09-15)
Two components of global change, climate change and urbanization, both contribute to increased ambient temperatures that may induce heat stress or mortality in animals. Each phenomenon independently results in both increased ...
Embryo development and global change: how do reptile embryos respond to ecologically relevant thermal stress?
(2019-09-15)
Two components of global change, climate change and urbanization, contribute to increased ambient temperatures that cause heat stress or mortality in animals. Many animals can respond to harmful temperatures behaviorally; ...
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 ...
Lizard embryos prioritize post-hatching energy reserves over increased hatchling body size during development
(2019-09-09)
Embryonic development in oviparous organisms is fueled by maternally-allocated yolk, with many organisms hatching before that energy store is completely used up; the resultant leftover (residual) yolk is internalized and ...
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 ...
The players in a mutualistic symbiosis: insects, bacteria, viruses, and virulence genes
(2019-08-08)
Aphids maintain mutualistic symbioses involving consortia of coinherited organisms. All possess a primary endosymbiont, Buchnera, which compensates for dietary deficiencies; many also contain secondary symbionts, such as ...
Osmoregulation in the Hawaiian anchialine shrimp Halocaridina rubra (Crustacea: Atyidae): expression of ion transporters, mitochondria-rich cell proliferation and hemolymph osmolality during salinity transfers
(2019-08-08)
Studies of euryhaline crustaceans have identified conserved osmoregulatory adaptions allowing hyper-osmoregulation in dilute waters. However, previous studies have mainly examined decapod brachyurans with marine ancestries ...
Enhancing Diversity in Undergraduate Science: Self-Efficacy Drives Performance Gains with Active Learning
(2019-08-07)
Efforts to retain underrepresented minority (URM) students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) have shown only limited success in higher education, due in part to a persistent achievement gap between ...