This decommissioned ERA site remains active temporarily to support our final migration steps to https://ualberta.scholaris.ca, ERA's new home. All new collections and items, including Spring 2025 theses, are at that site. For assistance, please contact erahelp@ualberta.ca.
Search
Skip to Search Results-
Gene expression and sensory structures in sponges: Explorations of sensory-neural origins in a non-bilaterian context
DownloadFall 2017
The nervous system is present in all but two animal phyla – one of them being Porifera, sponges. Sponges have no neurons and yet have organized behavior and finely tuned sensation. Furthermore, sponges have genes involved in the nervous system of other animals (informally called ‘neural’ genes)....
-
Subcellular Investigation of Poxvirus Coinfections and the Impact on the Evolution of Cidofovir Resistance
DownloadFall 2024
The Orthopoxviruses remain important re-emerging pathogens, yet there are only two monotherapy antiviral drugs for treating infections. One of the two approved drugs is brincidofovir, which is a prodrug of the acyclic nucleoside phosphonate cidofovir (CDV). CDV inhibits the vaccinia virus DNA...
-
Development, Anatomy, and Phylogenetic Relationships of Jawless Vertebrates and Tests of Hypotheses about Early Vertebrate Evolution
DownloadSpring 2018
The origin and early evolution of vertebrates remain one of the central questions of comparative biology. This clade, which features a breathtaking diversity of complex forms, has generated profound, unresolved questions, including: How are major lineages of vertebrates related to one another?...
-
Modular Design and Directed Evolution for the Development of Genetically Encodable Fluorescent Sensors
DownloadSpring 2019
The development of genetically encodable sensors for optical imaging has revolutionized the way researchers investigate cellular phenomena. Illuminating the molecular dynamics of the cell has become nearly routine with countless improvements in sensor design and directed evolution efforts to...
-
The Paleobiology, Paleoecology, and Evolution of Thescelosauridae (Ornithischia) from Alberta, Canada
DownloadFall 2021
Thescelosauridae is a basal neornithischian dinosaur clade that flourished in the Cretaceous from the Aptian to the Maastrichtian. This diverse but poorly studied group of small-bodied herbivores is divided taxonomically into Orodrominae and Thescelosaurinae, and existed in Asia and North and...
-
Development and Evolution of Complex Reproductive Traits in the Brassicaceae and Cleomaceae
DownloadSpring 2023
Flowering plants exhibit a bewildering diversity of forms, which raises fundamental questions on how that diversity arises. A cornerstone of evolutionary developmental biology is the expansion of comparative landscapes and establishment of focal clades that enable investigation of complex and...
-
Understanding the evolution of the membrane trafficking system in diverse eukaryotes through comparative genomics and transcriptomics
DownloadSpring 2018
Single-celled organisms represent the majority of eukaryotic diversity. Recent advances in sequencing technologies have been critical for understanding the evolutionary biology and cell biology of microbial eukaryotes. Comparative genomic analyses have shown that many genes that underlie...
-
A Polyphasic Perspective on Escherichia coli Niche-Specificity: The Characterization of Naturalized, Wastewater-Specific E. coli and the Emergence of Wastewater Treatment Resistance in the Microbial World
DownloadFall 2024
Although typically considered to be capable of colonizing and transiting between several different niches, evidence suggests that the Escherichia coli species exhibits a significant degree of host- and niche-specificity. This has led to the hypothesis that E. coli taxonomy may be more...
-
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...
-
Fall 2017
Three species of Cretaceous marine squamates are described or redescribed. The first, Pontosaurus ribaguster is described from a relatively complete specimen discovered on Hvar Island, Croatia. Preservation of identifiable nektonic teleosts within the gastric cavity (the first identifiable...