RSS 1.0Electronic Dissertations and Theses - Biological Sciences
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This collection contains theses and dissertations by students in the School of Biological Sciences at Washington State University.
Recent Submissions
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Detecting Hybridization in Hawaiian Cyrtandra Using Genome-Wide Data
(2018-05)Cyrtandra (Gesneriaceae) is a genus of flowering plants with over 800 species distributed throughout Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands. On the Hawaiian Islands, 60 named species and over 62 putative hybrids exist, ... -
Physiological and genetic control of photosynthetic CO2 flux in maize leaves
(2018)The carbon-concentrating mechanism of C4 photosynthesis requires a complex set of anatomical and biochemical adaptations. Although there is growing interest in using components of C4 photosynthesis for enhancing photosynthetic ... -
Prudent females? Effects of food availability and predation risk on female investment in offspring
(2018)Life history theory posits a trade-off between investment in self and reproduction depending on environment. Because of their increased investment in prenatal offspring, females in particular may exercise prudence if ... -
Diversification and Phylogeography of Synthyris (Plantaginaceae) in Northwestern North America
(2018)Both climatic and geologic activity can shape the distributions of species by altering the habitat in which they live and necessitating populations to either migrate, adapt, elsewise they may go extinct. Migration offers ... -
MECHANISMS OF INVASIVE RANGE EXPANSION: PLASTICITY, GENETIC VARIATION, AND EPIGENETIC VARIATION IN A CLONAL SPECIES
(2017)Adaptation to novel and changing environmental conditions is crucial for the persistence and range expansion of species in the context of biological invasions and climate change. Investigating the mechanisms by which ... -
Atmospheric Nitrogen Deposition in the Western United States: Sources, Sinks, and Changes over Time
(2017)Anthropogenic activities have greatly modified the way nitrogen moves through the atmosphere and terrestrial and aquatic environments. Excess reactive nitrogen generated through fossil fuel combustion, industrial fixation, ... -
Characterizing Inhibitory Systems in an Ecological and Evolutionary Context: Reduction and Escape in Phi X 174
(2017)Many emerging epidemics of the 20th century are characterized by high viral density in the host, so understanding intraspecific competition could be a key in determining effective treatment strategies. At these high ... -
BATS AND THE CONVERGENT EVOLUTION OF COMPLEX TRAITS
(2017)Convergent phenotypic evolution, the independent acquisition of similar traits in distinct species, is widespread in nature. Phenotypic convergence is a useful model for studying adaptive evolution because these instances ... -
DISENTANGLING THE GENETICS OF COEVOLUTION IN POTAMOPYRGUS ANTIPODARUM AND MICROPHALLUS SP.
(2016)Theoretical research has consistently demonstrated that host-parasite coevolution is important for many evolutionary transitions such as the evolution of sexual reproduction, ploidy and the evolution of mating systems. In ... -
Applications of Bayesian skyline plots and approximate Bayesian computation for population demography: A case study of Northern Fur Seals (Callorhinus ursinus)
(2016)The demographic history of a population can be reconstructed from its genetic composition, as populations carry signatures of their evolutionary pasts in their genomes. However, the application of population genetics to ... -
Genetic history of Chinook and sockeye salmon analyzed using ancient and contemporary mitochondrial DNA
(2016)Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) serve an important social and economic role in western North America. Despite historical abundance, native salmonids are now at risk of extinction throughout much of their native range. ... -
Mouse ultrasonic vocalizations: from emission to encoding
(2016)Human speech is one of the most important means of communication, and yet we have a poor understanding of how the brain controls speech production and processing. In recent decades, the mouse has become an important model ... -
The Effects of Domestication and Temperature on Growth and Swim Performance in Clonal Lines of Rainbow Trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss
(2015)In the western U.S., the Pacific salmonids (Oncorhynchus spp.) are of significant cultural, socioeconomic and ecological importance. However, despite decades of conservation efforts, their continued decline remains a great ... -
ADVANCED MICROSCOPY IMAGING OF PHLOEM PROTEINS IN ARABIDOPSIS REVEAL INSIGHTS INTO MUNCH'S PRESSURE FLOW HYPOTHESIS
(2014)Phloem proteins have been widely regarded as a wound response mechanism. All imagery showing apparent occlusions of this protein at a sieve plate have been dismissed as preparation artifact and ignored. Unfortunately, these ... -
INVESTIGATION INTO PROPERTIES OF C4 PHOTOSYNTHESIS FROM SINGLE-CELL AND KRANZ TYPE SPECIES IN SUAEDOIDEAE (CHENOPODIACEAE)
(2014)Although the majority of C4 plants have an anatomy that separates carboxylation and decarboxylation activities between two cell types (Kranz anatomy), some terrestrial plants Bienertia cycloptera, B. sinuspersici and Suaeda ... -
PROXIMATE CAUSES AND ULTIMATE CONSEQUENCES OF PHENOTYPIC VARIATION IN MALE RED-BACKED FAIRY-WRENS
(2014)Sexual signals are often plastic, and should therefore be adjusted to match an individual's phenotype and optimize lifetime fitness. However, little is known of physiological mechanisms permitting such phenotypic integration, ... -
THE EFFECT OF ABIOTIC AND GENETIC CONSTRAINTS ON DEMOGRAPHIC PERSISTENCE LIMITING SPECIES RANGES IN ENDEMIC SPECIES
(2014)A species' range is the result of ecological and evolutionary constraints on population persistence. The direct effects of abiotic and biotic factors on individual survival, ecological constraints, are proximate causes of ... -
A phylogenetic analysis of the genus Mertensia (Boraginaceae): taxonomy, divergence times, and biogeography
(2013)This study explores the taxonomy, systematics, and biogeography of -
Exploring the life histories of cephalopods using stable isotope analysis of an archival tissue
(2013)Relatively little is known about the life histories of cephalopods compared to many other groups of major marine predators such as fish, marine mammals, and sea birds. Increased importance of cephalopods to global fisheries ... -
Bromus tectorum in the Intermountain West and Great Plains (USA): Population Variation and Regional Environment Influence the Course of an Invasion
(2013)Biological invasions are an important component of anthropogenic global change and are a major source of environmental and economic damage. Future distributions of invasive species are expected to shift as a result of ...