BALTZLEY, MJ*; LOHMANN, KJ; Univ. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Univ. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: Evolution of a neural circuit in sea slugs Most nudibranch molluscs crawl using mucociliary locomotion. In Tritonia diomedea crawling behavior is controlled partly by two pairs of bilaterally symmetrical neurons located in the pedal ganglia. These cells, […]

LEE, DN*; TANG-MARTINEZ, Z; University of Missouri – St. Louis; University of Missouri – St. Louis: of Early Social Environment on the Physical Development of Prairie Voles In general, the size at birth, size at weaning, and growth rate of rodents vary with differences in the early environment a neonate experiences (Mendl 1988). This study […]

FONTAINE, JOSEPH/J*; MARTIN, THOMAS/E; University of Montana; University of Montana: Reproductive responses to experimentally reduced nest predation risk The reproductive strategy that an individual adopts has long term fitness implications for itself and its offspring. These fitness consequences result in strong selection to express optimal life history and parental care behaviors. Yet, while there is […]

JOHNSON, M. A.; Washington University, St. Louis, MO: Does Where an Animal Lives Determine Its Behavior? The Role of Microhabitat in Lizard Territoriality Many animals defend territories to monopolize resources. Despite much work on interspecific variation in territoriality, little is known about the role of habitat in this behavior. Specifically, species that occur in different […]

SNELL-ROOD, Emilie C; University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ: Developmental costs of behavioral plasticity: exploration during oviposition-cue learning in butterflies (Lepidoptera: Pieridae) Why is there is variation in the degree of phenotypic plasticity within and among species? Somatic selection (e.g., trial-and-error learning) is a developmentally costly mechanism of plasticity as individuals must explore their environment, test […]

CHRISTY, J.H.*; RISSANEN, J.R.; BACKWELL, P.R.Y.; Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute; Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute; Australian National University: A One-day Pause in the Biweekly Courtship Cycle of a Tropical Fiddler Crab Allows Females to Avoid Releasing Larvae During Twilight Predation on adults or young in the intertidal zone may vary predictably with the daylight, tidal height […]

WILSON, N.G.*; HALANYCH, K.M.; Auburn University, AL: Underestimates of Antarctica�s biodiversity: phylogeography of the Antarctic crinoid Promachocrinus kerguelensis Antarctica�s geographical and thermal isolation has led to high levels of endemic species. Although groups such as the pycnogonids and serolid crustaceans are well-known to have undergone major radiations in the Antarctic, the majority of other invertebrate […]

NISHIGUCHI, M.K:*; JONES, B.W.; New Mexico State University; New Mexico State University: Population dynamics of sepiolid squid-Vibrio mutualism from the Indo-west Pacific The sepiolid squid-Vibrio mutualism is an excellent system for examining mechanisms of cospeciation and host tracking patterns among a wide variety of symbiotic squid species. Currently, we are using genetic diversity and nested […]

MARIONI, N. K.*; TRACY, C. R.; ZIMMERMAN, L. C.; Univeristy of Nevada, Reno; Univiversity of Nevada, Reno; University of Nevada, Reno: Effects of declining lake levels on fish populations: Lahontan cutthroat trout and tui chub in Walker Lake, NV Prior to the 1960�s, Walker Lake, NV was inhabited by five fish species. Extensive water consumption […]

WETHEY, DS*; GILMAN, SE; HELMUTH, BS; HILBISH, TJ; Univ of South Carolina, Columbia; Univ of Washington, Friday Harbor; Univ of South Carolina, Columbia; Univ of South Carolina, Columbia: Ecological hindcasting of biogeographic responses to climate change in intertidal ecosystems Intertidal organisms are often assumed to live close to their thermal limits, and have emerged as […]