WELCH, A. M.; University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill: Ecological genetics of larval and metamorphic traits: how do populations respond to fluctuating selection? A population�s response to selection depends on the quantitative genetic basis of traits under selection. When populations experience variable environmental conditions, response to selection also depends on the degree to which a given […]

BOLNICK, D I; SVANBACK, R; FORDYCE, J A; YANG, L H; DAVIS, J M; HULSEY, C D; FORRISTER, M A; University of California, Davis; Uppsala University; University of Tennessee; University of California, Davis; University of California, Davis; University of California, Davis; University of California, Davis; : Comparative approaches to intra-population niche variation Ecologists tend to […]

MIGLIETTA , M.P.; SCHUCHERT , P.; Duke University; Mus�um d’histoire naturelle, Gen�ve , Switzerland: The Phylogeny of the genus Turritopsis (Hydrozoa – Cnidaria)-The immortal jellyfish The ability to revert its life cycle, thus becoming potentially immortal, brought some unexpected fame to the otherwise inconspicuous jellyfish genus Turritopsis. The process of transdifferentiation enables the jellyfish to […]

HALANYCH, K. M.; PASSAMANECK, Y.; Auburn Univ.; Woods Hole Oceanographic Insitution: Recent Progress on Resolving Lophotrochozoan Phylogeny The Lophotrochozoa, including mollusks, annelids, brachiopods, flatworms and their allies, encompasses the greatest amount of body plan diversity of the three major bilaterian lineages. Within the clade interphyletic relationships are poorly resolved with most previous analyses limited to […]

HARMON, M.C. *; GAREY, J.R.; LIVINGSTON, B.T.; University of South Florida, Tampa; USF, Tampa; USF, Tampa: Position of the Ophiuroids within the Echinodermata Revisited Both the ribosomal RNA gene sequences and the informative morphological characters within the Echinodermata have proven phylogenetically inconclusive with regards to the position of the ophiuroids. Littlewood et. al. report in […]

VOIGT, O.; COLLINS, A.G.; PEARSE , V.B.*; PEARSE, J.S.; SCHIERWATER, B.; TiHo-Hannover, ITZ; TiHo-Hannover, ITZ; Univ. of California, Santa Cruz; Univ. of California, Santa Cruz; TiHo-Hannover, ITZ: Placozoa: a phylum of one? In the phylum Placozoa, only two species have been described, Trichoplax adhaerens Schulze (1883) and Treptoplax reptans Monticelli (1893). Whereas the former has […]

CAMPBELL, T.G.*; GAREY, J.R.; University of South Florida: Phylogenetic Analysis of the Micrognathozoan, Limnognathia maerski, Based on the 18S rRNA Gene Micrognathozoans were first discovered in 1994 by Reinhardt Kristensen and Peter Funch after an analysis of the meiofauna of a cold freshwater spring on Disko Island, Greenland. The only described micrognathozoan species, Limnognathia maerski, […]

STRUCK, TORSTEN H*; WESTHEIDE, WILFRIED; PURSCHKE, G�NTER; Auburn University, AL; Universit�t Osnabr�ck, Germany; Universit�t Osnabr�ck, Germany: Origin of new species by sexual maturity in larval stages � Progenesis in polychaetes (Annelida) The origin of species is among the most discussed, but least understood processes of biological evolution. One possible mechanism is progenetic evolution of small […]

JENNER, RA; TELFORD, MJ; Univ. of Cambridge, U.K.; Univ. of Cambridge, U.K.: Molecular tests of the phylogeny of the Arthropoda and the Ecdysozoa Recent advances in molecular phylogenetics have provided increasingly convincing support for a close relationship between Hexapoda and Crustacea (together Pancrustacea or Tetraconata) within the Arthropoda, a hypothesis for which morphological support is […]

PASSAMANECK, Y.J.; Weill Medical College of Cornell University: Mitochondrial genome of the bryozoan Membranipora membranacea and its phylogenetic implications. The current study has sequenced the complete mitochondrial genome of the cheilostome bryozoan Membranipora membranacea. The Bryozoa are of particular interest to investigations on higher level metazoan evolution, as their phylogenetic position remains among the most […]