Schwartz, T.S.*; Karl, S.A.: Genetic Structure of Florida Gopher Tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) Populations Gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) population sizes are believed to have declined by an estimated 80% in the past 100 years. Habitat destruction from human development, predation, and infection from upper respiratory tract disease (URTD) have contributed to this decline. We currently are […]

JANZEN, F.J.: Constraints on the Microevolution of Type II Temperature-Dependent Sex Determination Sex determination is a fundamental trait of organisms that reproduce sexually, yet the tremendous diversity of sex-determining mechanisms remains largely unexplained. The origin of and variation in types of environmental sex determination (ESD) are particularly enigmatic. In this talk, I explore the ecological […]

Horne, B. D.: Comparative morphology of three populations of mexican mud turtles, Kinosternon leucostomum Three populations of the white lipped mud turtle Kinosternon luecostomum in southern Veracruz, Mexico were invesitgated for differences in growth rates, shell and head morphology. Turtles that were inhabiting a large temporary body of water were considerably different in morphology and […]

GATESY, J.E.: The Influence of Fossils on the Stability of Phylogenetic Relationships among Extant Taxa: A Preliminary Empirical Assessment in the Age of Genomics The addition of extinct taxa into a phylogenetic analysis can have three consequences for the stability of relationships among extant taxa. The fossils can: 1) stabilize a grouping of extant taxa, […]

BUCHHOLZ, D.R.*; ESPIRA, A.; BARBER, P; HAYES, T.B.: Juvenile patterns and sexual dichromatism in the endemic African reedfrog family, Hyperoliidae African reedfrogs, containing 19 genera with hundreds of species, are abundantly found in sub-saharan Africa and nearby islands. We have been studying the sexual dichromatism in the ubiquitous genus Hyperolius at multiple hierarchical levels. A […]

KOEPFLI, K-P.*; WAYNE, R.K.: Genomic Tools for Molecular Systematics: A Molecular Phylogeny of the Mustelidae (Mammalia: Carnivora) Inferred from Multiple Sequence-Tagged Sites Sequence-tagged sites (STSs) are PCR-based markers that amplify specific and homologous nuclear genes in virtually all mammalian species and were developed for the purposes of comparative genome mapping. Several characteristics make these markers […]

RUTA, M. *; COATES, M.I.; QUICKE, D.L.J.: Early Tetrapod Relationships Revisited A cladistic analysis of early tetrapods (90 taxa; 307 characters) yields 60 most parsimonious cladograms. These differ only in the internal relationships of aistopods and embolomeres, in the relative position of Balanerpeton, trimerorhachoids and more derived temnospondyls, and in the relative position of derived […]

COX, R.M.*; SKELLY, S.L.; JOHN-ALDER, H.B.: A comparative test of adaptive hypotheses for sexual size dimorphism in lizards. Adaptive hypotheses for the evolution of sexual size dimorphism (SSD) in lizards have generally focused on two processes: (1) sexual selection for large male size, which confers an advantage in intrasexual mate competition, and (2) natural selection […]

WOLCOTT, T.G.; WOLCOTT, D.L.; HINES, A.H.; MEDICI, D.A.; NC State Univ., Raleigh and Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, Edgewater MD: Migration of adult female blue crabs from mating areas to the maternity suite: when, where, and who cares? Adult female blue crabs (Callinectes sapidus) migrate from upper estuaries, where mating occurs, to high-salinity spawning grounds before […]

OPHIR, A.G.*; GALEF, B.G. Jr.; McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario; McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario: Losers win in the end: Female Japanese quail that eavesdrop on fighting males prefer the losers Much research has been dedicated to both study of female mate choice and to inter-male aggression. However, researchers have only recently begun to investigate their interaction. […]