Title:Phenotypic Variation and the Behavioral Ecology of Lizards
Abstract: Behavioral ecology is the study of how animal behavior evolves in the context of ecology, thus melding, by definition, investigations of how social, ecological, and evolutionary forces shape phenotypic variation within and across species. Framed thus, it is apparent that behavioral ecology also aims to cut across temporal scales and levels of biological organization, seeking to explain the long-term evolutionary trajectory of populations and species by...
Title:Statistics and Dynamics of Adaptation from de novo Mutations
Abstract: All living organisms are shaped by natural selection. Therefore, by studying natural selection as a generic process, we may gain insights into broad questions regarding the diversity of life, the fit of organisms to their environments, and the rate of evolutionary change. The process of natural selection consists of two steps. First, genetic mutations generate distinct genotypes within a population, which vary in their rates of survival and reproduction....
Biological Labs Main Lecture Hall, 16 Divinity Avenue
Title:Patterns of Genome Evolution and Habitat Adaptation in Tetraploid Arabidopsis arenosa
Abstract: Polyploidy occurs throughout eukaryotes, and is particularly prevalent among plants. Nearly 40\% of all vascular plant species are thought to be recent polyploids, including a number of invasive species and familiar crops. Despite the high incidence of polyploidy, most studies of its genetic attributes are based on crop and model systems that do not represent natural evolutionary models. Here, we make use of the natural diploid /...
William James Lecture Hall, B1, 33 Kirkland Street
Title:Foraging in a Complex World: From Individual Flight Performance to Collective Behavior in Bumblebees (Bombus impatiens)
Abstract: Foraging is a crucial and remarkably complex behavior that is key to survival. For social insects such as bumblebees, successful foraging depends on a combination of individual traits (e.g. physiological and biomechanical performance of individual workers) and collective behavioral strategies for regulating food intake at the colony level. Here, I use foraging...
Title:Ecology and Evolution of the Ferns of Moorea and Tahiti, French Polynesia
Abstract: Ferns are the only major clade of land plants with haploid (gametophyte) and diploid (sporophyte) stages that can grow separately from each other for extended periods. The ecology of fern gametophytes, which represent the sexual part of the life cycle, is very poorly known due to their small size and cryptic morphology. In contrast, the conspicuous...
Title: Estimating TMRCA, Modeling the Fixed Pedigree, and the Effect of the Y Chromosome on the Chromatin Landscape
Abstract:This thesis consists of three different chapters on very different topics.
Chapter 1: We demonstrate the advantages of using information at many unlinked loci in order to better calibrate estimates of the time to the most recent common ancestor (TMRCA) at a...
Title:Convergent interactions among pitcher plant microcosms in North America and Southeast Asia
Abstract: Ecosystems are composed of diverse suites of organisms whose interactions are mediated by both the biotic and abiotic constraints of their environments. The complexity of ecosystems makes them both resilient and difficult to understand. Analyzing the patterns and constraints of biodiversity...
Title: The genetics of life history traits in the fungus Neurospora crassa
Abstract: The study of life histories is fundamental to understanding why some organisms live for a very short time while others live for a long time, why some produce thousands of offspring while others produce one, or why some need a mate to reproduce while others can do it on their own. The life histories of many animals and plants are well known because we can easily walk into a forest or field and measure them. Fungi, on the other hand, are hard...
Title: Mode and fidelity of bacterial symbiont transmission and its impact on symbiont genome evolution
Abstract: Mutualistic symbioses have enabled the colonization of novel habitats and niches in a large array of eukaryotic and bacterial taxa. Reliable mechanisms of symbiont transmission between host generations are necessary to stabilize these associations over evolutionary time. Historically, symbionts have been categorized as either vertically transmitted from the parents to offspring or horizontally...
Biological Labs Main Lecture Hall, 16 Divinity Avenue
Title: An Integrative Investigation of Convergent Bipedal Locomotion in Desert Rodents
Abstract: Bipedalism is commonly assumed to be an adaptive convergence because it has evolved independently three times in small desert rodents. However, the functional benefits of bipedality in this ecosystem have long been unclear. In this thesis I integrate phylogenetics, functional...
Biological Labs Main Lecture Hall, 16 Divinity Avenue
Title: Abiotic Influences on Free-Living Microbial Communities in Hydrothermal Vent Ecosystems
Abstract: Hydrothermal vent ecosystems are defined by steep thermal and chemical gradients. Chemosynthetic microorganisms are the primary producers in these systems, utilizing the available chemical energy to support substantial animal biomass. The variety of chemical substrates provided by hydrothermal fluid and the surrounding seawater enables a metabolically...
Seminar Room, Program for Evolutionary Dynamics, 1 Brattle Sq, 6th Floor
Title: Challenging Cooperation: Inequality, Global Commons, Future Generations
Abstract:Cooperation is abundant in the world around us, spanning all levels of biological and social organisation. Yet the existence and maintenance of cooperation is puzzling from an evolutionary perspective because the costs borne to cooperating individuals put them at an evolutionary disadvantage. We thus require an understanding of mechanisms and institutions that can enable cooperation to thrive and be maintained. In this...
