Chemoreception is one of the dominant sensory modalities for many species of salamanders (reviewed in Chapter 2). At least seven of the ten currently recognized salamander families are known to respond to some sort of chemical cue. These responses are as varied as delaying hatching, seeking refuge, or initiating aggressive...
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Lynne D. Houck
Chemoreception is one of the dominant sensory modalities for many species of
My dissertation focuses on the evolutionary forces that have shaped the chemical signaling system of plethodontid salamanders. Pheromones mediate two phases of plethodontid reproduction: mate attraction prior to courtship and female persuasion during courtship. Substrate-borne chemical signals are believed to play an important role in mate attraction for these animals....
My thesis explored the effects of and potential mediating mechanisms for an important environmental stressor, ultraviolet-B (UVB) radiation. UVB radiation has negative effects on organisms in both terrestrial and aquatic systems. I used meta-analysis to quantify the effects of UVB radiation on a diversity of aquatic organisms (Chapter 2). UVB...
Pheromones are chemical cues produced by organisms that affect the behavior and/or physiology of conspecifics. The orchestration of reproductive behaviors in many animals depends on the expression of sex pheromones. In insects, intraspecific variation in sex pheromone expression is commonly observed and often influences social interactions between individuals. To what...
I examined two aspects of the reproductive behavior of the garibaldi, Hypsypops rubicundus, a temperate marine damselfish with male parental care. My primary objective was to determine the relationship between female choice and male parental investment in the care of offspring. In particular, I sought to determine: (1) how the...
The present study was undertaken to determine, by measurement
of nuclear DNA, the degrees and frequencies of ploidy in the
last larval instar of the moth Galleria mellonella Linnaeus. While
such data have been amassed for a wide variety of vertebrate tissues,
few studies have been concerned with invertebrates and...
Vertebrates communicate with one another and coordinate intraspecific reproduction by using a variety of sexually dimorphic signals, such as plumage, ornaments, sounds, and/or scents. These sexual dimorphisms are maintained by physiological factors, typically sex-specific hormones (though see Chapter 3 for an exception). The purpose of the research in this dissertation...
The role of orange coloration in the breeding behavior of
Gambelia wislizenii was examined in the Alvord Basin of southeast
Oregon. Behavioral observations of free ranging lizards supplemented
field experiments where I manipulated the sex and color of lizards
encountered by resident female G. wislizenii before and after they
acquired...