DOCSLIB.ORG

Evolutionary History and Species Interactions

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Evolutionary History and Species Interactions EDITORIAL Evolutionary history and species interactions Douglas J. Futuymaa,1 and Anurag A. Agrawalb aDepartment of Ecology and Evolution, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794-5245; and bDepartments of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Entomology, and Cornell Center for a Sustainable Future, Cornell University, Corson Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853-2701 e celebrate this year the historical information. Well into the vide tests for the role of sexual selection sesquicentennial anniver- 1970s, however, paleontology and sys- in speciation; and ‘‘gene trees’’ for re- sary of the publication of tematics were viewed by students of mi- lated species cast light on possible in- On the Origin of Species croevolution as descriptive sciences that stances of founder-effect speciation. A W(1), one of the most important books could contribute little to understanding phylogenetic framework is now de rigeur ever written. The two great themes of evolutionary processes—-a view that in addressing many, if not most, prob- The Origin are descent, with modifica- some paleontologists sought to dispel, lems in evolutionary biology (6). tion, of diverse species from common arguing that evolution includes processes An important and most interesting ancestors, and natural selection, which above the population level, such as dif- effect of being able to more confidently Darwin proposed as the chief agent of ferential rates of speciation and extinc- infer history is that evolutionary biolo- modification. He remarked, in Chapter tion (2, 3). On the whole, the study of gists have become more aware of the VI, that ‘‘it is generally acknowledged evolutionary history occupied a rela- role of historical explanation for the that all organic beings have been tively marginal position in evolutionary characteristics of living organisms. This formed on two great laws—Unity of biology, which tended to be more fo- seems odd, because one would suppose Type, and the Conditions of Existence. cused on population-level processes. The that of all biological disciplines, evolu- By unity of type is meant that funda- divide between historical, generally mac- tionary biology should always have been mental agreement in structure, which we roevolutionary study and process- most conscious of the impact of history. see in organic beings of the same class, oriented, genetic, microevolutionary Nevertheless, an equilibrial assumption, and which is quite independent of their study was substantial (4). that organisms are near their adaptive habits of life. On my theory, unity of This situation has changed dramati- optima, has been widespread, arising in type is explained by unity of descent. cally in the last 15–20 years, owing part from evidence that most character- The expression of conditions of largely to the great growth in sophistica- istics are genetically variable and hence existence…is fully embraced by the prin- tion and reliability of phylogenetics, the responsive to natural selection, and in ciple of natural selection.’’ The two first task of which is to infer a major part from many examples of rapid great laws are conjoined, he noted, be- component of evolutionary history, adaptation to human alterations of envi- cause natural selection will have namely the sequence of divergence of ronments. This assumption, which is adapted the parts of each being ‘‘during lineages as portrayed in phylogenetic characteristic of much of physiology and long-past periods of time,’’ so that ‘‘the trees. Phylogenetic analysis of living or- functional morphology (7), carried over law of the Conditions of Existence is the ganisms cannot entirely replace paleon- into ecology. For example, most com- higher law; as it includes, through the tology as a way of recovering the past; munity ecologists since the 1960s as- inheritance of former adaptations, that for example, it cannot reveal the exis- sumed that the species richness and of Unity of Type’’ (ref. 1, p. 168). tence of many extinct taxa. But it can species composition of ecological assem- Darwin thus described what we today provide insights into the history of taxa blages are near equilibrium, and could consider the main subjects of evolution- that are seldom fossilized. Moreover, it be explained by ecological theories ary biology: the history of evolution, enables us to trace the evolution of framed in terms of current and very including that history embodied in characters—-their polarity of change, recent environmental conditions (8). ‘‘unity of type,’’ the causal processes of convergence, reversal, elaboration—- Today, the theme of historical or ‘‘phy- evolution (including, but not only, natu- including molecular, physiological, be- logenetic constraints’’ looms large in ral selection), and the relation between havioral, and ecological features that are evolutionary biology, and ‘‘phylogenetic them. seldom recovered in fossils. Time- conservatism’’ of characters is thought During the 1930s and 1940s, dialogue calibrated phylogenies, incorporating not to account for many taxonomic patterns among geneticists, systematists, and pa- only the relative sequence but also the in ecological features such as habitat leontologists resulted in the ‘‘evolution- absolute time of lineage branching, en- associations (9). Likewise, community ary synthesis,’’ in which a chief point of able us to relate evolutionary events to ecologists increasingly recognize that the agreement was that the phenomena of climatic and geological changes (comple- diversity and identity of species in com- long-term evolution (‘‘macroevolution,’’ menting paleontological data); to esti- munities, and the interactions among or ‘‘evolution above the species level’’) mate rates of character evolution; and to them, may be fully explicable only if result simply from the prolonged and infer the time course of diversification, long-term history, including macroevolu- repeated action of the processes of mu- including rates of speciation and extinc- tation, recombination, and gene fre- tion (5). It has become clear that histor- quency change that occur in populations ical information can often be used to Throughout 2009 PNAS will publish several collections of (‘‘microevolution’’). Despite this synthe- test hypotheses about evolutionary pro- articles examining various aspects of evolution and evolu- sis, evolutionary biology diverged into cess, based on the patterns that the hy- tionary theory. These collections include In Light of Evolu- tion III: Two Centuries of Darwin; Biogeography, Changing largely disjunct studies of evolutionary potheses predict, so the once-divided Climate, and Niche Evolution; Out of Africa: Modern Hu- history (among species) and genetic pro- approaches are becoming united. For man Origins; Plant and Insect Biodiversity; and Evolution in cesses (within species). Some inferences example, interspecific comparisons are Health and Medicine. about evolutionary history could be commonly used to detect selection at Author contributions: D.J.F. and A.A.A. wrote the paper. made from comparative studies by sys- the molecular level and to distinguish The authors declare no conflict of interest. tematists, but the fossil record was gen- modes of selection; contrasts between 1To whom correspondence should be addressed: E-mail: erally viewed as the chief source of the species richness of sister clades pro- [email protected]. www.pnas.org͞cgi͞doi͞10.1073͞pnas.0910334106 PNAS ͉ October 27, 2009 ͉ vol. 106 ͉ no. 43 ͉ 18043–18044 Downloaded by guest on September 29, 2021 tionary history, is taken into account have arisen by a long history of coevolu- versely, understanding the ecology of (10, 11). For example, among the many tion that has affected the food web links communities of species requires appreci- hypotheses advanced to account for the between these trophic levels (16). Using ation of evolution and the role of greater species richness of many taxa in as data the host-plant associations and history. lower than higher latitudes, those that some physiological features of insects Darwin, whom many view as a include effects of long-term history ap- and the chemical and other defenses founder of ecology, appreciated that pear to be gaining favor (12). of plants—-features that are very imper- ‘‘plants and animals, most remote in The connections between community fectly documented by fossils—- the scale of nature, are bound together ecology and macroevolution are no- phylogenetic analyses enable us to by a web of complex relations’’ (ref. 1, where clearer than in interactions describe some aspects of the macroevo- p. 61). Since his time, we have learned among parasites and their hosts (13) and lution of these associations and relate quite a lot about the processes and his- among herbivores and their food plants them to contemporary interactions. tory whereby these relations have (14, 15), because many herbivores and Studies of herbivores and their host evolved. As the papers in this Special parasites are highly host-specific, and plants clearly show, as Reznick and Feature attest, evolution and ecology their host associations are often phylo- Ricklefs (17) recently urged, that ‘‘un- are indissolubly joined in the study of genetically conservative. More broadly, derstanding macroevolution requires the interactions between plants and their her- the diversity of herbivores, their host integration of ecology, evolution, and bivores, which offer a cardinal illustration plants, and the defensive adaptations of the role of history in shaping the diver- of evolution
Load more

Recommended publications
  • 1. Adaptation and the Evolution of Physiological Characters
    Bennett, A. F. 1997. Adaptation and the evolution of physiological characters, pp. 3-16. In: Handbook of Physiology, Sect. 13: Comparative Physiology. W. H. Dantzler, ed. Oxford Univ. Press, New York. 1. Adaptation and the evolution of physiological characters Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, ALBERT F. BENNETT 1 Irvine, California among the biological sciences (for example, behavioral CHAPTER CONTENTS science [I241). The Many meanings of "Adaptationn In general, comparative physiologists have been Criticisms of Adaptive Interpretations much more successful in, and have devoted much more Alternatives to Adaptive Explanations energy to, pursuing the former rather than the latter Historical inheritance goal (37). Most of this Handbook is devoted to an Developmentai pattern and constraint Physical and biomechanical correlation examination of mechanism-how various physiologi- Phenotypic size correlation cal systems function in various animals. Such compara- Genetic correlations tive studies are usually interpreted within a specific Chance fixation evolutionary context, that of adaptation. That is, or- Studying the Evolution of Physiological Characters ganisms are asserted to be designed in the ways they Macroevolutionary studies Microevolutionary studies are and to function in the ways they do because of Incorporating an Evolutionary Perspective into Physiological Studies natural selection which results in evolutionary change. The principal textbooks in the field (for example, refs. 33, 52, 102, 115) make explicit reference in their titles to the importance of adaptation to comparative COMPARATIVE PHYSIOLOGISTS HAVE TWO GOALS. The physiology, as did the last comparative section of this first is to explain mechanism, the study of how organ- Handbook (32). Adaptive evolutionary explanations isms are built functionally, "how animals work" (113).
    [Show full text]
  • Download Download
    THEORETICAL COMMUNICATIONS EVO/DEVO From archebiosis to evolution of organisms and informational systems Yuri Natochin1 and Tatiana Chernigovskaya2 EVO/DEVO 1Faculty of Medicine, Saint Petersburg State University, Universutetskaya nab., 7–9, Saint Petersburg, 199106, Russian Federation 2Department of the Problems of Convergence in Natural Sciences and Humanities, Laboratory for Cognitive Studies, Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Saint Petersburg State University, Universitetskaya nab., 7–9, Saint Petersburg, 190000, Russian Federation Address correspondence and requests for materials to Tatiana Chernigovskaya, [email protected] Abstract Laws of evolution seem to be relevant not only for biological domains, but for informational systems. This paper provides a sketch of a comparison of two systems — that of homeostatic systems, and that of language evolution. We argue that the patterns of evolution of functions are hierarchically organized according to four main levels: I — the primary level: a cell in biology, a phoneme in language; II — functional units: a nephron, a morpheme; III — organs: a kid- ney (a lung, a heart, etc.), a word; IV — systems: physico-chemical constancy, a sentence or a phrase. There is a set of restrictions for each domain: the linguis- tic changes have not occurred in all languages, in many cases they are still un- derway, there are ‘old’ and ‘young’ languages, etc. Such comparisons appear to be relevant and can be applied to objects as far removed as these. This allows us to speak of certain evolutionary universals. Keywords: laws of physiological evolution, history of evolutional physiology in Russia, origins of life, language evolution. Introduction: A glimpse of history Citation: Natochin, Y.
    [Show full text]
  • Evolutionary Environmental Physiology (IB 150, 3 Units, Spring 2016)
    Evolutionary Environmental Physiology (IB 150, 3 units, Spring 2016) Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley COURSE INFORMATION COURSE FORMAT Two lectures (1.5h/lecture, 9:30 – 11am Tue/Thu, 110 Wheeler) and one discussion per week (2h, room and time TBA). INSTRUCTOR Caroline Williams Office: 5120 VLSB, (510) 643-9775, office hours to be advised Email: [email protected] Webpage: cmwilliamslab.com bCourses site: to be advised GSI To be advised (1 requested) PREREQUISITES Bio1A and Bio1B or equivalent ENROLLMENT Capped at 50 students for first year (8 Teams of 6-7 students), aiming to expand in future years COURSE Evolutionary physiology studies how physiological traits arise and OVERVIEW are modified during adaptation to the environment. An integrative understanding of the origin and maintenance of physiological traits, encompassing levels of biological hierarchy from molecular to ecological and biogeographic, is essential for improving human health and stewarding the natural world through the current era of rapid environmental change. This course consists of three parts: 1) big questions in evolutionary physiology and how they are addressed; 2) a student-led exploration of how environmental factors have shaped physiological evolution; and 3) predicting responses to global change using evolutionary physiology. This course will be taxonomically broad and will encompass aquatic and terrestrial systems. LEARNING This course aims to foster both content-specific knowledge and OBJECTIVES scientific enquiry and reasoning skills. As a result, this course will stimulate interest in the field of evolutionary physiology, and will also provide a solid preparation for the new (2015) MCAT examination. The specific learning objectives are listed below.
    [Show full text]
  • Ecological and Evolutionary Physiology" (BIOL 174) Winter 2007 Instructor: Theodore Garland, Jr., Professor of Biology, University of California, Riverside
    Tentative Syllabus: "Ecological and Evolutionary Physiology" (BIOL 174) Winter 2007 Instructor: Theodore Garland, Jr., Professor of Biology, University of California, Riverside. Office is 109 University Lab Building; Phone 827-3524; [email protected] Office Hours: Tuesday and Wednesday, 10-11 A.M. in 109 ULB, or by appointment. Catalog Description: Interactions between organisms and their environments, emphasizing coadaptation of physiological, morphological, and behavioral phenotypes. Topics include: allometry and scaling, metabolism and locomotion, heat and water exchange, evolution of endothermy, artificial selection experiments, and phylogenetically based statistical methods. Lecture: Tuesday and Thursday, 2:10 - 3:30 P.M. in 1307 SPTHW (Spieth Hall West) Required Readings: All readings as PDF files will be posted online at http://ilearn.ucr.edu/. These should be read before class. Lectures will be posted only after class. Grading: Student Survey (10 points), Three written critiques of papers from the literature (20 points each), Mid-term Exam 1 (60 points), Mid-term Exam 2 (60 points), Final Exam (60 points). Total = 250 points. Nine points of extra credit are possible for example exam questions. Lecture Schedule and Required Readings: 1. 4 Jan. 2007 - Attendance and Introduction. Tracy, C. R., and J. S. Turner. 1982. What is physiological ecology? Bull. Ecol. Soc. Am. 63:340-347. Definitions and Opinions by: G. A. Bartholomew, A. F. Bennett, W. D. Billings, B. F. Chabot, D. M. Gates, B. Heinrich, R. B. Huey, D. H. Janzen, J. R. King, P. A. McClure, B. K. McNab, P. C. Miller, P. S. Nobel, B. R. Strain. 2. 9 Jan. 2007 - Student Survey; Historical Development of Eco Evo Phys Bennett, A.
    [Show full text]
  • Selection Experiments and Experimental Evolution of Performance and Physiology
    Garland_ch12.qxd 8/3/09 2:03 PM Page 301 12 SELECTION EXPERIMENTS AND EXPERIMENTAL EVOLUTION OF PERFORMANCE AND PHYSIOLOGY John G. Swallow, Jack P. Hayes, Pawel Koteja, and Theodore Garland, Jr. THE IMPORTANCE OF REPLICATION Selection on VO2max and the Correlation between BMR and VO2max EXPERIMENTAL EVOLUTION OF MICE IN DIFFERENT THERMAL ENVIRONMENTS SEXUAL SELECTION: EFFECTS OF ORNAMENTS ON PERFORMANCE WIND TUNNEL FLIGHT IN DROSOPHILA Guppies ENDURANCE RUNNING AND STRESS-INDUCED ANALGESIA IN MICE Stalk-Eyed Flies ENDURANCE RUNNING IN RATS AND VOLUNTARY WHEEL “EXPERIMENTS” WITHOUT PRECISELY DEFINED SELECTION RUNNING IN MICE CRITERIA EVOLUTION OF THE RATE OF ENERGY METABOLISM Horse Racing IN RODENTS Greyhound Racing Selection on Basal Metabolic Rate PHYSIOLOGICAL DIFFERENCES AMONG STRAINS Selection on Heat Loss OF MICE AND BREEDS OF DOG Rate of Metabolism as a Hypothetical CONCLUSION Correlated Response Experimental Evolution: Concepts, Methods, and Applications of Selection Experiments, edited by Theodore Garland, Jr., and Michael R. Rose. Copyright © by the Regents of the University of California. All rights of reproduction in any form reserved. 301 Garland_ch12.qxd 8/3/09 2:03 PM Page 302 Since a seminal paper by Arnold (1983), direct measurement of whole-organism perfor- mance has become central to functional evolutionary biology (e.g., Arnold 2003; Ghalambor et al. 2003; Kingsolver and Huey 2003). In this context, “performance” can be most easily defined by example. Assuming that individuals can be fully motivated (e.g., see Swallow et al. 1998a; Harris and Steudel 2002; Losos et al. 2002; Tobalske et al. 2004), it is relatively easy to measure maximal sprint running speed of small mammals and lizards on photocell-timed racetracks or high-speed treadmills (e.g., Calsbeek and Irschick 2007; Chappell et al.
    [Show full text]
  • Potassium Ions Are More Effective Than Sodium Ions in Salt Induced Peptide Formation
    Orig Life Evol Biosph DOI 10.1007/s11084-013-9326-5 PREBIOTIC CHEMISTRY Potassium Ions are More Effective than Sodium Ions in Salt Induced Peptide Formation Michael V. Dubina & Sergey Yu. Vyazmin & Vitali M. Boitsov & Eugene N. Nikolaev & Igor A. Popov & Alexey S. Kononikhin & Igor E. Eliseev & Yuri V. Natochin Received: 12 December 2012 /Accepted: 17 January 2013 # The Author(s) 2013. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com Abstract Prebiotic peptide formation under aqueous conditions in the presence of metal ions is one of the plausible triggers of the emergence of life. The salt-induced peptide formation reaction has been suggested as being prebiotically relevant and was examined for the formation of peptides in NaCl solutions. In previous work we have argued that the first protocell could have emerged in KCl solution. Using HPLC-MS/MS analysis, we found that K+ is more than an order of magnitude more effective in the L-glutamic acid oligomerization with 1,1'-carbonyldiimidazole in aqueous solutions than the same concentration of Na+, which is consistent with the diffusion theory calculations. We anticipate that prebiotic peptides could have formed with K+ as the driving force, not Na+, as commonly believed. Keywords Potassium . Sodium . Prebiotic . Peptide formation . Origin of life Introduction Since Oparin’s ideas (1924; 1938) and Miller-Urey’s famous experiment (1953)onthe prebiotic synthesis of amino acids, one of the main problems of prebiotic chemistry is to “re-invent” the plausible range of indispensable physical-chemical boundary re- quirements that would enable the emergence of stable and replicable molecules on the primordial Earth (Eschenmoser 2003).
    [Show full text]
  • Evolutionary Biology
    EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY SUBDISCIPLINES OF EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY Behavioral Evolution • Evolution of mating systems, courtship behavior, foraging behavior, predator escape mechanisms, and cooperation. Evolutionary Developmental Biology (Evo-Devo) • Evolutionary change in the processes that translate genetic information (genotype) into its behavioral, anatomical, physiological, and biochemical characteristics (phenotype). Evolutionary Ecology • How the life histories, diets, and other ecological features of species evolve, and how these processes affect the composition and properties of communities and ecosystems, also, how species evolve in response to one another (e.g. evolution of predator-prey relationships). Evolutionary Genetics • The origin of variation; the patterns of variation within populations and species, along with the causes and consequences of these variations. Paleobiology • Large-scale evolutionary patterns in the fossil record. Examines origins and fates of lineages, major groups, and anatomical and behavioral novelties, evolutionary trends, and changes throughout geographic areas and geologic time. Evolutionary Physiology/Morphology • How physiological, biochemical, and anatomical features of an organism provide adaptation to its environment and lifeways. Also examines the history of these adaptations. Human Evolution • Many evolutionary biologists use conceptual issues of the subdisciplines to study a particular group of organisms. Of these groups, one draws special attention—the human lineage. Molecular Evolution • Investigates the history and causes of evolutionary changes in nucleotide sequences, the structure and number of genes, their physical arrangement on chromosomes, and other molecular phenomena, including the evolution of genomes. Systematics • Distinguishes and names species, infers phylogenetic relationships among species and classifies species based on their evolutionary relationships. CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY.
    [Show full text]
  • Phylogenetic Analyses: Comparing Species to Infer Adaptations and Physiological Mechanisms Enrico L
    P1: OTA/XYZ P2: ABC JWBT335-c100079 JWBT335/Comprehensive Physiology November 1, 2011 18:56 Printer Name: Yet to Come Phylogenetic Analyses: Comparing Species to Infer Adaptations and Physiological Mechanisms Enrico L. Rezende*1 and Jose´ Alexandre F. Diniz-Filho2 ABSTRACT Comparisons among species have been a standard tool in animal physiology to understand how organisms function and adapt to their surrounding environment. During the last two decades, conceptual and methodological advances from different fields, including evolutionary biology and systematics, have revolutionized the way comparative analyses are performed, resulting in the advent of modern phylogenetic statistical methods. This development stems from the realiza- tion that conventional analytical methods assume that observations are statistically independent, which is not the case for comparative data because species often resemble each other due to shared ancestry. By taking evolutionary history explicitly into consideration, phylogenetic statistical methods can account for the confounding effects of shared ancestry in interspecific comparisons, improving the reliability of standard approaches such as regressions or correlations in compara- tive analyses. Importantly, these methods have also enabled researchers to address entirely new evolutionary questions, such as the historical sequence of events that resulted in current patterns of form and function, which can only be studied with a phylogenetic perspective. Here, we pro- vide an overview of phylogenetic approaches and their importance for studying the evolution of physiological processes and mechanisms. We discuss the conceptual framework underlying these methods, and explain when and how phylogenetic information should be employed. We then outline the difficulties and limitations inherent to comparative approaches and discuss po- tential problems researchers may encounter when designing a comparative study.
    [Show full text]
  • Tentative* Biology Upper Division Course Offerings
    Tentative* Biology Upper Division Course Offerings Fall Winter Spring Summer (REQUIRED) BCH 100 Elementary Biochemistry (4) ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ BCH 110B General Biochemistry (4) ✓ ✓ BIOL/ENTM 100 General Entomology (4) ✓ ✓ (REQUIRED) BIOL 102 Introductory Genetics (4) ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ BIOL/BPSC 104 Foundations of Plant Biology (4) ✓ ✓ BIOL 105 Evolution (4) ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ BIOL 106 Biology of Human Variation (4) ✓ BIOL 107A Molecular Biology (4) ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ BIOL 107B Advanced Molecular Biology (3) ✓ BIOL 108 Population Genetics and Genomics (4) ✓ BIOL 110 Biology of Human Problems (4) ✓ BIOL 111 Infectious Disease Epidemiology (4) ✓ BIOL/BPSC/ENTM 112 Systematics (4) ✓ BIOL 113 Advanced Cell Biology (4) ✓ ✓ BIOL 114 Advanced Cell Biology (4) ✓ ✓ BIOL 115 Human Genetics (4) ✓ BIOL 116 Ecology & Conversation Biology (4) ✓ ✓ ✓ BIOL 118 Lab in Molecular Phylogenetics & Evolution (4) ✓ BIOL 119 Intro Genomics & Bioinformatics (4) ✓ ✓ BIOL/MCBL/PLPA 120 Intro to Plant Pathology (3) ✓ BIOL/MCBL/PLPA 120L Intro to Plant Pathology Lab (1) ✓ BIOL/MCBL 121 Intro Microbiology (4) ✓ ✓ ✓ BIOL/MCBL 121L Microbiology Lab (3) ✓ ✓ BIOL/MCBL 122 Food Microbiology (4) ✓ BIOL/MCBL/PLPA 123 Intro Comparative Virology (4) ✓ BIOL/MCBL 124 Medical Microbiology (4) ✓ BIOL/ENTM 127 Insect Ecology (4) ✓ BIOL/CBNS 128 Immunology (3) ✓ ✓ ✓ BIOL/BPSC 132 Plant Anatomy (4) ✓ ✓ BIOL/PLPA 134 Intro Mycology (3) ✓ BIOL/PLPA 134L In Mycology Lab (1) ✓ BIOL/BPSC 138 Plant Developmental Morphology (4) ✓ ✓ BIOL/ENTM/MCBL 139 The Evolution of Conflict and Cooperation: Cheaters and ✓ Altruists (4) BIOL/BPSC
    [Show full text]
  • Systematics of Protosteloid Amoebae Lora Lindley Shadwick University of Arkansas
    University of Arkansas, Fayetteville ScholarWorks@UARK Theses and Dissertations 12-2011 Systematics of Protosteloid Amoebae Lora Lindley Shadwick University of Arkansas Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd Part of the Comparative and Evolutionary Physiology Commons, and the Organismal Biological Physiology Commons Recommended Citation Shadwick, Lora Lindley, "Systematics of Protosteloid Amoebae" (2011). Theses and Dissertations. 221. http://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/221 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UARK. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UARK. For more information, please contact [email protected]. SYSTEMATICS OF PROTOSTELOID AMOEBAE SYSTEMATICS OF PROTOSTELOID AMOEBAE A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Cell and Molecular Biology By Lora Lindley Shadwick Northeastern State University Bachelor of Science in Biology, 2003 December 2011 University of Arkansas ABSTRACT Because of their simple fruiting bodies consisting of one to a few spores atop a finely tapering stalk, protosteloid amoebae, previously called protostelids, were thought of as primitive members of the Eumycetozoa sensu Olive 1975. The studies presented here have precipitated a change in the way protosteloid amoebae are perceived in two ways: (1) by expanding their known habitat range and (2) by forcing us to think of them as amoebae that occasionally form fruiting bodies rather than as primitive fungus-like organisms. Prior to this work protosteloid amoebae were thought of as terrestrial organisms. Collection of substrates from aquatic habitats has shown that protosteloid and myxogastrian amoebae are easy to find in aquatic environments.
    [Show full text]
  • The Role of Quantitative Genetic Studies in Animal Physiological Ecology Revista Chilena De Historia Natural, Vol
    Revista Chilena de Historia Natural ISSN: 0716-078X [email protected] Sociedad de Biología de Chile Chile ARTACHO, PAULINA; CASTAÑEDA, LUIS E.; NESPOLO, ROBERTO F. The role of quantitative genetic studies in animal physiological ecology Revista Chilena de Historia Natural, vol. 78, núm. 1, 2005, pp. 161-167 Sociedad de Biología de Chile Santiago, Chile Available in: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=369944273012 How to cite Complete issue Scientific Information System More information about this article Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal Journal's homepage in redalyc.org Non-profit academic project, developed under the open access initiative QUANTITATIVE GENETICS IN PHYSIOLOGICAL ECOLOGYRevista Chilena de Historia Natural161 COMMENTARY 78: 161-167, 2005 The role of quantitative genetic studies in animal physiological ecology El rol de los estudios genético-cuantitativos en ecología fisiológica animal PAULINA ARTACHO1, LUIS E. CASTAÑEDA1 & ROBERTO F. NESPOLO1* 1 Instituto de Ecología y Evolución, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Austral de Chile, Casilla 567, Valdivia, Chile; * Corresponding author: [email protected] ABSTRACT Evolutionary physiology is a new discipline with roots in comparative physiology. One major change in the emergence of this discipline was an explicit new focus on viewing organisms as the evolutionary products of natural selection. The shift in research emphasis from comparative physiology to evolutionary physiology has resulted in physiological traits becoming important elements in broad research programs of evolution and ecology. Evolutionary quantitative genetics is a theory-based biological discipline that has developed the quantitative tools to test explicit evolutionary hypotheses. The role of quantitative genetics has been paramount, in studying the microevolution of morphology, behavior and life history, but not comparative physiology.
    [Show full text]
  • Phylogenetic Approaches in Comparative Physiology Theodore Garland, Jr1, Albert F
    The Journal of Experimental Biology 208, 3015-3035 3015 Published by The Company of Biologists 2005 doi:10.1242/jeb.01745 Commentary Phylogenetic approaches in comparative physiology Theodore Garland, Jr1, Albert F. Bennett2,* and Enrico L. Rezende1 1Department of Biology, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, USA and 2Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA *Author for correspondence (e-mail: [email protected]) Accepted 13 June 2005 Summary Over the past two decades, comparative biological and Monte Carlo computer simulations). We discuss when analyses have undergone profound changes with the and how to use phylogenetic information in comparative incorporation of rigorous evolutionary perspectives and studies and provide several examples in which it has been phylogenetic information. This change followed in large helpful, or even crucial, to a comparative analysis. We also part from the realization that traditional methods of consider some difficulties with phylogenetically based statistical analysis tacitly assumed independence of all statistical methods, and of comparative approaches in observations, when in fact biological groups such as general, both practical and theoretical. It is our personal species are differentially related to each other according to opinion that the incorporation of phylogeny information their evolutionary history. New phylogenetically based into comparative studies has been highly beneficial, not analytical methods were then rapidly developed, only because it can improve the reliability of statistical incorporated into ‘the comparative method’, and applied inferences, but also because it continually emphasizes the to many physiological, biochemical, morphological and potential importance of past evolutionary history in behavioral investigations. We now review the rationale for determining current form and function.
    [Show full text]