Published June 2006. Facts and recommendations in this publication may no longer be valid. Please look for up-to-date information in the OSU Extension Catalog: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog
How complex traits evolve continues to be a major focus of evolutionary
investigation. A current topic of debate is the hypothesis that the phenotypic
integration of complex traits gives rise to evolutionary constraints. I studied two color
traits in the common garter snake, Thamnophis sirtalis, that show a high level...
Fifty-seven species of wildlife rely on or frequently use snags for breeding, roosting, or denning in Oregon and Washington. Several publications offer information on use of snags by wildlife, influence of management activities on snags and snag users, and approaches to managing snags to benefit wildlife. Because of the diverse...
In this dissertation I study evolutionary patterns at genes encoding antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) in frogs. AMPs are short, amphipathic, cationic, secreted proteins that kill bacteria and other pathogens through a non-catalytic mechanism that involves
binding to and disrupting the microbial cell membrane. In many animal taxa, positive selection is much...
Ecosystems are facing increasing threats from human related activities, such as overfishing, pollution, habitat destruction, species invasions, and diseases, among others. While oceanic islands provide natural laboratories to understand ecological and evolutionary process, they are also particularly vulnerable to these impacts, given their usual isolation from the mainland and the...
With declining populations and low calf recruitment in northeastern Oregon, much interest has been generated to study the survival rates and causes of mortality of Rocky Mountain elk (Cervus elaphus nelsoni). I investigated the causes of elk calf mortality and the effects of predation risk on birth-site selection by cow...