Browsing PhD Dissertations - DO NOT EDIT by Title
Now showing items 71-90 of 132
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Learning to Swim: An Exploration of the Terrestrial to Aquatic Transition in Elapids (Squamata: Elapidae)
(2021-12-20)Elapidae is an extremely diverse family of venomous snake that have a nearly global distribution. To conquer such wide swaths of territory the initially fossorial snakes evolved many successful strategies pertaining to ... -
LEVERAGING POPULATION GENOMICS ACROSS TWO TAXONOMICALLY DIVERSE NON-MODEL SYSTEMS TO UNDERSTAND PATTERNS OF DISEASE TRANSMISSION AND CONSEQUENCES OF HYBRIDIZATION
(2023-05-10)**Please note that the full text is embargoed until 05/10/2025** ABSTRACT: The field of population genomics has been mainly applied to questions centered around understanding molecular variation, impacts of evolutionary ... -
Leveraging the dynamic repeat element landscape of squamate reptile genomes to understand broad patterns of Vertebrate genome evolution and transposable element biology
(2019-11-20)Vertebrate genomes are mostly composed of transposable elements (TE), mobile DNA sequences that have shaped genome structure and evolution by promoting positive (e.g., regulatory network rewiring, embryo development) and ... -
Local And Watershed Influences On The Species Composition And Functional Organization Of Stream Diatom Communities In The Acid-impacted Adirondack Region Of New York
(Biology, 2014-03-12)For over 40 years, acid deposition has been recognized as a serious international environmental problem, but efforts to restore acidified streams and biota have had limited success. The need to better understand the effects ... -
Mechanisms Affecting Predation Success In Wolf Spiders
(Biology, 2014-09-17)Predator-prey interactions play a role in community structure through a variety of different mechanisms including direct consumption, density-mediated indirect effects, and trait-mediated indirect effects. Understanding ... -
MECHANISTIC BASIS FOR THE ROLE OF RESISTANCE AND TOLERANCE DETERMINANTS IN ANTIBIOTIC TREATMENT FAILURE
(2022-05-09)Failure of antibiotics in treatment of nosocomial Gram-negative bacterial infections has created a substantial burden for global public health. The β-lactam class of antibiotics includes last resort carbapenems, which are ... -
Mechanistic insights into Gram-negative envelope remodeling for protection against severe outer membrane defects
(2022-05-23)Gram-negative bacteria account for the majority of antibiotic resistant infections. Regulated modifications within the cell envelope can promote resistance to clinically important antibiotics. The increased prevalence of ... -
Microbial Diversity and Immunogenetics of Whiptail Lizards (Aspidoscelis)
(2022-08-10)Whiptail lizards of the genus Aspidoscelis are a complex of both sexual and asexual species with distributions in the United States, Mexico, and Central America. The parthenogenetic lineages arose through hybridization ... -
Modulation Of Innate Immunity In Arabidopsis
Plants possess a highly sophisticated defense system to fight against pathogen infection. One of the components of this system, stomatal immunity, was studied here. Stomata, formed by a pair of epidermal guard cells, are ... -
Molecular Mechanisms That Regulate the Stress Response In A. baumannii
(2023-08-14)**Please note that the full text is embargoed until 08/01/2025** Acinetobacter baumannii is particularly problematic in hospital settings, where infections can occur in a range of tissues. This bacterium can endure extreme ... -
Natural Hybridization And Speciation In Toads Of The Anaxyrus americanus Group.
(Biology, 2009-09-16)The goal of speciation research is to elucidate the processes that lead to the formation of new species. Examining natural hybridization and the evolution of reproductive isolating barriers provides an opportunity to ... -
Nematodes With Three Genders: Models For The Evolution Of Mating Systems, Parasitism And Aging
(Biology, 2013-10-23)All living organisms reproduce and age. These are the two basic facets of life, but in many aspects poorly understood. The majority of the species are male/female. The proportion of genders in population can vary significantly ... -
Niche and dispersal effects on biodiversity, community composition and species co-occurrences in stream ecosystems
(2022-08-16)Niche and dispersal processes are major ecological drivers of freshwater communities but their relative roles across latitudinal gradients, scales, and organismal groups are not well understood. Thus, we performed three ... -
Origins and Maintenance of Diversity in a Vertebrate Parthenogen
(2017-01-02)Clonal lineages are expected to experience a decline in fitness over time due to their inability to decouple deleterious and beneficial alleles. Individually, however, asexual populations pass twice as much of their DNA ... -
PHENOTYPIC EVOLUTION OF MIDDLE AMERICAN TREE FROGS: ALLOMETRIC EFFECTS, AND LARVAL AND ADULT EVOLUTIONARY INDEPENDENCE
(2016-10-25)The shape and size of vertebrates is shaped by adaptive processes and phylogenetic relationships, and constrained by mechanical and developmental constraints. We quantified the diversity of the skull using geometric ... -
Phylogenetic Relationships And Feeding Behavior Of Neotropical Snail-eating Snakes (Dipsadinae, Dipsadini)
(Biology, 2013-03-20)The snake subfamily Dipsadinae contains more than 350 ecologically diverse species in about 32 genera. Members of the tribe Dipsadini are gastropod specialists, and many possess a suite of adaptations for eating snails. ... -
Phylogenetic Systematics Of Dispholidine Colubrids (Serpentes: Colubridae)
(Biology, 2013-03-20)Dispholidine colubrids are a group of arboreal African snakes that are distributed throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Despite their vast distribution and medical significance, the systematic relationships of this group remain ... -
Phylogenetic Systematics, Population Genetics, And The Evolution Of Color Pattern Polymorphism And Coralsnake Mimicry In The Snake Genus Sonora
(Biology, 2013-03-20)Mimicry is a widespread biological phenomenon and is simply defined as the resemblance of one organism to another for some sort of protective purpose. Specifically, Batesian mimicry occurs when a harmless species imitates ... -
Phylogeography And Geographical Variation Of Behavioral And Morphological Characteristics In Paruroctonus boreus
(Biology, 2008-09-17)Specimens of Paruroctonus boreus were collected from twenty-four sites to assess the geographic variation in behavioral, morphological and molecular traits. Statistical analyses showed males demonstrated a positive response ... -
Phylogeography of the American Green Treefrog Species Group
(2016-12-08)The southeastern United States is an important temperate biodiversity hotspot, housing a multitude of endemic species and multiple large rivers fragmenting their ranges. To determine if the Riverine Barriers Hypothesis ...