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Are we underestimating the genetic variances of dimorphic traits? 

Wolak, Mathew E.; Roff, Derek A.; Fairbairn, Daphne J. (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 ...

Propagule size and sex ratio influence colonisation dynamics after introduction of a non-native lizard 

Fargevieille, Amelie; Reedy, Aaron; Kahrl, Ariel; Mitchell, Timothy; Durso, Andrew; Delaney, David; Pearson, Phillip; Cox, Robert; Warner, Daniel (2022-01-28)
1. The composition of founding populations plays an important role in colonisation dynamics and can influence population growth during early stages of biological invasion. Specifically, founding populations with small ...

Life History Aspects of Exyra semicrocea (Pitcher Plant Moth) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) 

Stephens, Jessica D.; Folkerts, Debbie R. (2022-03-03)
With as little as 3% of southeastern Coastal Plain pitcher plant bogs remaining, it is important to understand the life-history aspects of the endemic organisms that comprise this community. In this study, we elucidate ...

Reproductive Value and the Stochastic Demography of Age-Structured Populations 

Engen, Steinar; Lande, Russell; Saether, Bernt-Erik; Dobson, F. Stephen; 0000-0001-5562-6316 (2020-06-03)
The dynamics of an age-structured population in a fluctuating environment is determined by the stochastic individual contributions from annual survival and fecundity to the total reproductive value of the population the ...

Reproductive Value and the Stochastic Demography of Age-Structured Populations 

Engen, Steinar; Lande, Russell; Sæther, Bernt‐Erik; Dobson, Stephen; 0000-0001-5562-6316 (2022-09-15)
The dynamics of an age-structured population in a fluctuating environment is determined by the stochastic individual contributions from annual survival and fecundity to the total reproductive value of the population the ...

The players in a mutualistic symbiosis: insects, bacteria, viruses, and virulence genes 

Moran, Nancy A; Degnan, Patrick H; Santos, Scott R; Dunbar, Helen E; Ochman, Howard (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 ...

Geographic structure in the Southern Ocean circumpolar brittle star Ophionotus victoriae (Ophiuridae) revealed from mtDNA and single-nucleotide polymorphism data 

Galaska, Matthew P; Sands, Chester J; Santos, Scott R; Halanych, Kenneth M; Mahon, Andrew R (2019-04-29)
Marine systems have traditionally been thought of as "open" with few barriers to gene flow. In particular, many marine organisms in the Southern Ocean purportedly possess circumpolar distributions that have rarely been ...

Reptile Embryos Lack the Opportunity to Thermoregulate by Moving within the Egg 

Telemeco, Rory; Gangloff, Eric; Cordero, Gerardo; Mitchell, Timothy; Bodensteiner, Brooke; Holden, Kaitlyn; Mitchell, Sarah; Polich, Rebecca; Janzen, Fredric; 0000-0002-2101-3295; 0000-0002-7136-769X; 0000-0002-9137-1741 (2023-05-17)
Historically, egg-bound reptile embryos were thought to passively thermoconform to the nest environment. However, recent observations of thermal taxis by embryos of multiple reptile species have led to the widely discussed ...

Hard and Soft Anatomy in Two Genera of Dondersiidae (Mollusca, Aplacophora, Solenogastres) 

Scheltema, Amelie H.; Schander, Christoffer; Kocot, Kevin M. (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 ...

Phylogenomic analyses of Crassiclitellata support major Northern and Southern Hemisphere clades and a Pangaean origin for earthworms 

Anderson, Frank E.; Williams, Bronwyn W.; Horn, Kevin M.; Erséus, Christer; Halanych, Kenneth M.; Santos, Scott R.; James, Samuel W. (2019-04-26)
BACKGROUND: Earthworms (Crassiclitellata) are a diverse group of annelids of substantial ecological and economic importance. Earthworms are primarily terrestrial infaunal animals, and as such are probably rather poor natural ...

Tracking transmission of apicomplexan symbionts in diverse Caribbean corals 

Kirk, Nathan L; Ritson-Williams, Raphael; Coffroth, Mary Alice; Miller, Margaret W; Fogarty, Nicole D; Santos, Scott R (2019-05-10)
Symbionts in each generation are transmitted to new host individuals either vertically (parent to offspring), horizontally (from exogenous sources), or a combination of both. Scleractinian corals make an excellent study ...

Hemichordate Molecular Phylogeny Reveals a Novel Cold-Water Clade of Harrimaniid Acorn Worms 

Cannon, Johanna T.; Swalla, Billie J.; Halanych, Kenneth M.; 0000-0002-8658-9674 (2022-03-04)
Hemichordates are instrumental to understanding early deuterostome and chordate evolution, yet diversity and relationships within the group have been understudied. Recently, there has been renewed interest in hemichordate ...

Fitness implications of seasonal climate variation in Columbian ground squirrels 

Dobson, FS; Lane, JE; Low, M; Murie, JO (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 ...

Lizard embryos prioritize post-hatching energy reserves over increased hatchling body size during development 

Murphy, Kaitlyn M; Radder, Rajkumar S; Shine, Rick; Warner, Daniel A; https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7516-6783 (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 ...

The Vitamin A-Redox Hypothesis: A Biochemical Basis for Honest Signaling via Carotenoid Pigmentation 

Hill, Geoffrey; Johnson, James D; 0000-0001-8864-6495 (2022-07-29)
Trade-offs in resource allocation have been widely stated as the means by which the honesty of ornamental traits is maintained, but an alternative to this resource trade-off hypothesis is that production of ornamentation ...

Landscape-level influences of terrestrial snake occupancy within the southeastern United States 

Steen, David A.; McClure, Christopher J. W.; Brock, Jean C.; Rudolph, D. Craig; Pierce, Josh B.; Lee, James R.; Humphries, W. Jeffrey; Gregory, Beau B.; Sutton, William B.; Smith, Lora L.; Baxley, Danna L.; Stevenson, Dirk J.; Guyer, Craig; 0000-0002-3031-7557; 0000-0003-4909-2690 (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 ...

The demographic basis of population regulation in Columbian ground squirrels 

Dobson, Stephen; Oli, Madan; 0000-0001-5562-6316 (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. ...