DEMAINTENON, MJ; University of Hawaii at Hilo: Evolution of small body size in columbellid gastropods (Gastropoda: Neogastropoda). The evolution of small body size has important consequences in terms of organismal ecology and physiology, and is also closely associated with episodes of origination and diversification leading to many higher taxa. Most of the extant clades of […]

BERDNIKOVS, Sergejs; University of Cincinnati: Aspects of the evolution of sexual dimorphism in the genus Mustela (Carnivora, Mammalia) The evolutionary basis of morphological differences between the sexes in mammalian species is still debated. Alternative hypotheses for sexual dimorphism include selective mechanisms or the results of phylogenetic constraint. The family Mustelidae is inconsistent with Rensch’s rule […]

ALFARO, M/E; WAINWRIGHT, P/C; Univ. of California, Davis: A simulation study of the relationship between morphological and functional diversity in fish jaws It is widely thought that ecological diversity is strongly correlated with morphological diversity although this assumption, which underlies many comparative evolutionary studies, has rarely been examined. We tested this hypothesis by simulating the […]

KIDD, M.R.; KOCHER, T.D.; Hubbard Center for Genome Studies, University of New Hampshire: The Evolution of Male Bower Form Within Three Genera of Lake Malawi Cichlids The 500-1000 cichlid species endemic to Lake Malawi constitute one of the most rapid and extensive adaptive radiations of vertebrates known. Unfortunately, the phylogenetic analysis necessary to understand the […]

CARLIN, Joel L.; Whitman College: Phylogenetic relationships among groupers (Percoidei: Serranidae: Epinephelinae) I assessed variability among species of epinephelin and other serranid fishes at both the cytochrome b mitochondrial gene and the noncoding nuclear intron, LDHA6. Although both mtDNA and nuclear gene trees were concordant in some issues, the two datasets were significantly incongruent and […]

MAHON, Andrew R.; CARPENTER, Kent E.; BERRA, Tim M.; Old Dominion University, Dept. of Biological Sciences; Old Dominion University, Dept. of Biological Sciences; The Ohio State University, Dept. of Evololution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology: Phylogenetic placement of the nurseryfish (Perciformes: Kurtidae) among the suborders of the Perciformes using the nuclear recombinase activating gene I (RAG-1). […]

KOEPFLI, K.-P.K.*; JENKS, S.; ZAHIRPOUR, T.; WAYNE, R.K.; Univ. of California, Los Angeles; The Sage Colleges; Univ. of California, Los Angeles; Univ. of California, Los Angeles: Molecular Systematics of a Relictual Lineage: The Hyaenidae (Mammalia: Carnivora) The mammalian carnivore family Hyaenidae consists of four extant species that are classified into four monotypic genera and two […]

BABBITT, Courtney C.; PATEL, Nipam H.; University of Chicago; University of California, Berkeley: Developmental Systematics: ontogeny and phylogeny in the Malacostraca (Crustacea). Within the wealth of comparative embryological and developmental data being produced by the evodevo community there may be a large source of untapped phylogenetic information. The central aim of this study is to […]

HOLLIDAY, Jill A.; Florida State University: Character evolution in Carnivora: specialization, stasis, and directional bias In mammalian carnivores, hypercarnivory is a meat-specialist dietary niche characterized morphologically by relative elongation of the carnassial blade, relative reduction of the post-carnassial dentition, and relative shortening of the rostrum. Hypercarnivory has evolved numerous times within the order Carnivora, including […]

GARLAND, T., Jr.; IVES, A.R.; MIDFORD, P.E.; Univ. of Calif., Riverside; Univ. of Wisc.-Madison: Within-species Variation and Measurement Error in Phylogenetic Comparative Methods Most phylogenetically based statistical methods assume that within-species variation is absent or negligible. Within-species variation has several components, including differences among populations, which can be eliminated by sampling from single populations. Alternatively, […]