DAVIDOWITZ, G.*; NIJHOUT, H.F.; Univ. of Arizona; Duke Univ.: The Physiological Basis of Reaction Norms: Where Developmental Rate and Duration of Development Connect The effects of temperature and nutritional quality on growth rate and body size are well known. We know little, however, of the mechanisms by which an organism translates variation in diet and […]

BAYNE, B.L.*; Univ. Sydney, Australia: Phenotypic plasticity in component processes to growth in marine bivalves Bivalve molluscs are highly plastic in their feeding behavior and the component processes of growth. A few examples will be discussed in the context of responses to changes in the food environment. Different species respond in different ways, but the […]

GILCHRIST, G. W.; HUEY, R. B.; College of Wiliam & Mary; University of Washington: Is plasticity an adaptation? Body size as a function of temperature within and among parallel clines in Drosophila subobscura. The European fruit fly, Drosophila subobscura, exhibits striking clinal variation in wing size, with overall size steadily increasing with latitude. About 25 […]

SEARS, Michael W; ANGILLETTA, Michael J; PORTER, Warren P; Indiana State University; Indiana State University; University of Wisconsin-Madison: Getting back to nature: ecological influences on patterns of growth and body size in squamate reptiles Recently, there has been much interest in geographic patterns of growth and body size in all taxonomic groups. Though many, if […]

BLANCKENHORN, W.U.; University of Zurich, Zoological Museum: Bergmann’s rule, the converse and countergradients: Clinal body size variation in dung flies and water striders. At least four different evolutionary patterns or hypotheses (co)exist concerning clinal variation in body size and associated life history traits: (1) Bergmann’s rule (body size increases with latitude, a temperature effect); (2) […]

ASHTON, Kyle/G.; Kutztown University: Are There General Body Size-Latitude (and Temperature) Trends in Vertebrates? Biologists have long been interested in identifying general patterns of geographic variation in body size, and its relationship with environmental parameters. Meta-analytical techniques provide an excellent tool for testing for such patterns. Using these techniques, I have shown strong evidence for […]

HALANYCH, Kenneth M; Auburn University: WormNet: Progress towards understanding Annelid phylogeny. To date the only phylogenetic analyses covering the diversity of annelids are morphological cladistic studies. One of the explicit goals of the WormNet program is to build a robust phylogenetic framework for Annelida based on molecular data. To this end various participants of the […]

GAREY, J.R.; Univ. of South Florida: Simulating DNA Evolution: application to genomic analysis The simulation of DNA evolution is a powerful tool that has been used in the past to evaluate the accuracy of various tree-making algorithms and to explore poorly understood phenomena such as long-branch attraction. One of the problems with previous DNA simulations […]

WOODIN, S.A.*; MERZ, R.A.; Univ. South Carolina, Columbia; Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania: Setal function, phylogeny, and lifestyle revelations among the worms The distinct and diverse morphology of polychaete setae and their orientations and distributions on the bodies of worms are both physical evidence of the relatedness of these worms and, depending on setal type, an indication […]

MCHUGH, Damhnait; Colgate University, Hamilton NY: Phylogenetic Analyses of Annelid Relationships Using Nuclear Coding Genes Developing a robust hypothesis of annelid relationships will inform us about the evolution of segmentation, whether the ancestral annelid was a burrowing form or a surface-dwelling crawler, and the identity of the closest living relative to the clitellates. It will […]