BALTZLEY, Michael/J; CAIN, Shaun/D; LOHMANN, Kenneth/J; Univ. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Univ. of Washington; Univ. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: Comparative anatomy of the ciliated pedal epithelium of nudibranch gastropods. Gastropod molluscs crawl on a muscular foot that is covered with a layer of cilia. Some gastropods crawl using muscular waves and […]

FULL, R.J.*; KUBOW, T.; GARCIA, M.; SCHWIND, W.; KODISTCHEK, D.; Univ. of California, Berkeley; Univ. of California, Berkeley; Univ. of California, Berkeley; Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor: Can a simple neural oscillator generate rapid running in cockroaches? Animals are complex, high dimensional, dynamical systems. Yet, their musculo-skeletal systems can be […]

TIELEMAN, B.I. *; WILLIAMS, J.B.; VISSER, G.H.; University of Groningen, The Netherlands; Ohio State University, Columbus; University of Groningen, The Netherlands: The physiology-life history nexus in larks along an aridity gradient We compared physiological, demographic and ecological variables of larks to gain insights into life history variation along an aridity gradient. Quantifying field metabolic rate […]

SPENCER, Ricky-John; CLARK, William/F; Iowa State University; Iowa State University: Testing a theoretical model of nest site selection in turtles and water birds. Nest selection has important consequences for fitness in water birds and freshwater turtles, as factors such as nest predation are high in many populations. We developed a theoretical model that balances perceived […]

FEDORKA, KM*; ZUK, M; University of California, Riverside; University of California, Riverside: Reproductive behavior and immune defense in the striped ground cricket Biologists have recently become interested in how variance in immune effector systems may translate into variance in fitness. To this end, the rapidly developing field of ecological immunity has begun to focus on […]

PALACIOS, M.G.*; MARTIN, T.E.; Iowa State University, Ames; University of Montana, Missoula: Parasites, predators, and the evolution of incubation period in birds. One longstanding question regarding life history evolution is why organisms vary so dramatically in the time required for development. Avian incubation provides an ideal model to study variation in developmental periods because incubation […]

YOUNG, R.L.*; BADYAEV, A.V.; University of Arizona; University of Arizona: Mechanisms behind maternal favoritism in a passerine bird: Rate and duration of yolk development in relation to embryo sex and laying order All birds lay at most one egg per day until their clutches are completed. However, because the formation of a single egg often […]

MILES, C.M.*; WAYNE, M.L.; University of Florida; University of Florida: Estimates of heritability for the trait of egg size in the serpulid polychaete Hydroides elegans Some theories regarding the evolution of life history in marine invertebrates suggest selective changes in egg size as key transitional events. Egg size can only respond to selection if there […]

RICHARDSON, Susan L; Florida Atlantic University: COMPARATIVE DEMOGRAPHY OF THE EPIPHYTIC FORAMINIFERAN SORITES DOMINICENSIS, BELIZE AND FLORIDA Sorites dominicensis is an evolutely-coiled, disk-shaped Soritacean species with dinoflagellate endosymbionts that lives as an epiphyte on the seagrass Thalassia testudinum throughout the shallow waters of the subtropical to tropical Western Atlantic. Populations of S. dominicensis were censused […]

ELLIOTT, Glen RD; Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada: The contractile apparatus of a juvenile freshwater sponge, Ephydatia muelleri Within the metazoa the Porifera is the only phylum that lacks a nervous and muscular system. Nevertheless, freshwater demosponges have a coordinated behaviour that is very like a slow sneeze: in response […]