This master thesis addresses a large-scale biogeographical question, the distribution and evolutionary history of a marine species complex with a vast distribution in the northern hemisphere. This complex includes two intertidal brown macroalgae, Fucus spiralis and Fucus guiryi,…
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Global patterns of biodiversity intrigue biologists to investigate their origins and common mechanisms and causes underlying the patterns through studies of evolutionary histories, processes, drivers that might have shaped the patterns of species diversification. The eastern Asi…
Connectivity refers to the amount of gene flow present between populations of the same species. The transfer of genetic material between populations allows species to increase their genetic diversity, thus allowing advantageous mutations to spread. When gene flow between populat…
The aim of the present project was to reassess the systematics, phylogeny and biogeography of the Indo-Pacific taxa of the scorpion family Liochelidae Fet & Bechly, 2001 based on morphology and molecules. The morphological matrix comprised of 85 terminal taxa and 263 characters …
Liang Bua, an archaeological cave site on the Indonesian island of Flores, is best known as the type locality of the enigmatic hominin species, Homo floresiensis. Excavations at Liang Bua have recovered a very large number of vertebrate remains, including more than 230,000 bone …
The study of systematics is a framework for the understanding of the natural world by generating units of biodiversity and relatedness between and among groups. My project focused on two studies: resolving the hierarchical placement and diversity of Palearctic naked-toed geckos …
Questions about taxonomic diversity and biogeography of Eastern Tarsiers were addressed with mtDNA and recordings of vocalizations. A transect was plotted from the Sangihe Islands, north of Sulawesi, to the Togian Islands of Tomini Bay in the south. The transect was over 1000 km…
The taxonomy of the genus Leptopelis is reviewed based on morphological and molecular data with phylogenetic and biogeographic scenarios proposed. New species are identified. One new species from Cameroon is related to the species of L. modestus. PCA analysis suggested that this…
Sandy beaches are often highly allochthonous, depending on external subsidies of carbon and nutrients. Despite this, sandy beach macrofaunal assemblages have received little attention regarding their response to enhanced primary productivity generated from coastal upwelling. Thi…
Two molecular phylogenetic studies were undertaken to examine relationships within Myricaceae. Analyses of DNA sequences of the plastid rbcL gene, trnL-Fregion and nuclear ITS region showed the family to be monophyletic. In all analyses Canacomyrica, a monotypic genus endemic to…
The systematics of the most diverse turtle family Geoemydidae has been a matter of debate over the last 40 years. This study addresses the family phylogenetic relationships using virtually complete taxon sampling and three mitochondrial and three nuclear genes with a total of 40…
Hurricanes are a relatively common occurrence along the gulf coast of Texas. This research analyzed the effect hurricanes have on the growth and structure of forests in southeastern Texas. Increment cores were taken from numerous species within the Neches Bottom Unit of the Big …
In the first chapter I documented diversity of Symbiodinium for two species of giant clam, Tridacna maxima and Tridacna squamosa , across their Indo West Pacific distribution. At 25 localities across the Indo-Pacific from French Polynesia to the Red Sea, I collected small pieces…
The Middle Paleolithic Levant was presumably home to a variety of equid and other mammalian species originating from three continents co-mingling within the land bridge that is “the Levant corridor”. The biogeography of equid species may aid in contextualizing human migration pa…
El conocimiento actual de los patrones de diversidad biológica se basa principalmente en laevaluación de la riqueza de especies a distintas escalas. Es reconocido ampliamente que estamedida de diversidad no se distribuye al azar, donde el patrón más recurrente y documentado aesc…
In this dissertation, I characterize the spatiotemporal dynamics of wild animal populations and communities via literature synthesis and three empirical studies. In Chapter 1, I review how historic foundations of macroecology and the theory of island biogeography inform ecology,…
The areas of the Himalayas where high mountain ranges meet the lowlands of Asia in a series of deep, narrow, and often xeric gorges are described as the “trans-Himalayas,” including the eastern extreme (SW China, Burma) and the western extreme (Pakistan and Afghanistan). The sys…
Sea kraits are venomous marine adapted snakes belonging to the single genus Laticauda in the family Elapidae. There are eight species in the genus, three are wide-ranging, with distributions spanning from Myanmar to Tonga, and north to the Ryukyu Islands of Japan. The other five…
The plant microbiome is essential to the maintenance of plant community structure and diversity. In addition, anthropogenic forces are altering these long-standing relationships. Despite the importance of the plant microbiome and increasing human impacts, questions about how the…