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Fall 2014
With well over 3,400 described species, snakes undoubtedly represent one of the most successful groups of reptiles. Much has been written about their ecology, behavior, anatomy, relationships and evolution. However, despite the debate about the origin of this taxonomic group dating back to the...
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Fall 2018
A full understanding of the evolution of novel forms requires inference about their origins through the study of variation in extant taxa and clues from the fossil record. However, the origins of morphological diversity in many groups are obscured by the scarcity of transitional fossils or...
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Fall 2013
The phylogenetic relationships of the destructive spruce budworm group of forest pests (Choristoneura fumiferana species complex) have previously been explored using allozymes, microsatellites, mitochondrial genes and a nuclear gene, but remain poorly resolved with conflicting topologies. I used...
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Fall 2017
Leafrollers moths are one of the most ecologically and economically important groups of herbivorous insects. These Lepidoptera are an ideal model for exploring the drivers that modulate the processes of diversification over time. This thesis analyzes the evolution of Choristoneura Lederer, a well...
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Fall 2010
Epithelia form protective barriers and regulate molecule transport between the mesenchyme and environment. Amongst all metazoans, only sponges are said to lack 'true' epithelia however the physiology of sponge cell layers are rarely studied empirically. Aggregates and gemmules of a freshwater...
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Fall 2013
Ortiz Sandoval, Carolina Guadalupe
The ER mitochondria-associated membrane (MAM) is a hub for many calcium-mediated processes required for cell survival, including apoptosis, autophagy, and ATP production. In this thesis, we identified and characterized the interaction between MAM-enriched Rab32 and its effector Drp1, a master...
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Respiration, Acid/Base, Ammonia and Ionoregulatory Strategies in the Pacific hagfish (Eptatretus stoutii)
DownloadFall 2016
Hagfish feed on putrefied carrion, which poses several environmental challenges to the scavenger including hypoxia (Low PO2), hypercapnia (high PCO2) and high environmental ammonia (HEA). To any other organism, these conditions would be physiologically challenging; however, hagfish seem to have...
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Spring 2011
Large corporations have a significant amount of working capital tied into the acquisition and storage of spare parts. In the industry, spare parts inventory policies and strategies are often developed in isolation from reliability centered maintenance practices – this results in significant...
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The development and biomechanics of theropod teeth and comparisons with other reptiles: a functional analysis
DownloadSpring 2012
Teeth are important for taxonomic studies. They are often the only remains found of certain vertebrates in the fossil record. This is because they are more resistant to weathering than most bones, they are small, and they are generally abundant. Most reptiles have homodont dentition, and the...
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Fall 2020
Dromaeosaurids were small to medium sized theropod dinosaurs that diversified during the Late Cretaceous, reaching a near cosmopolitan distribution. They were diverse in morphology from the small four-winged gliders of Microraptorinae, to the bear-sized giant ‘raptors’ like Achillobator or...