Environmental gradients can help shed light on the evolution of life history strategies such as parental investment. Parental investment is crucial for the fitness of many species. In this thesis, I examine reproductive investment dynamics in the Eurasian blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) in the French Pyrenees and assess potential differences in reproductive measures across an altitudinal gradient that creates variation in environmental “harshness”. Further, I investigate fine-scale aspects of bi-parental care, such as investment tactics in current reproduction, and sex differences in contributions to offspring care. To do so, I used a mixture of observational and experimental data, collected over a total of six breeding seasons from over 500 blue tits nests. I showed that breeding conditions are “harsher” due to colder temperatures with increasing elevation, leading to changes in reproductive timing and output. I found that increasing altitude leads to decreased hatching success. Nevertheless, clutch size and brood mortality is comparable across the gradient. A shift to a lower, but qualitatively comparable reproductive output may be part of a slower “pace of life” strategies pursued at high relative to low altitudes. From experimental data, I also found that parental investment is positively linked across different phases within one reproductive attempt. Finally, in line with theory, a temporary brood manipulation revealed that parents balance the benefits and costs of reproduction by partially compensating for changes in brood size. Parents also responded in similar ways to brood size. Overall, the findings presented in this thesis highlight the importance of mechanisms to fine-tune reproduction to maximise reproductive fitness. I suggest that initial reproductive decisions such as timing and amount of offspring produced heavily shape the success of a reproductive attempt. These results have implications for current versus future reproductive trade-offs in life history theory, in particular for short-lived species.

Leaf shape is remarkably variable among plants, and hence likely has major consequence for ecological function and fitness. My thesis addresses the ecological significance of clinal variation for a leaf shape polymorphism in Ipomoea hederacea (lobed leaves dominate the north, entire-shaped leaves restricted to the south), and investigates the role of adaptation and demography in shaping its evolutionary history in its eastern North American range. To evaluate the adaptive value of the cline, I surveyed leaf shape genotypes from 77 populations , and found a steep latitudinal leaf shape cline that was not reflected in 173 neutral genetic markers. Furthermore, the leaf shape locus was a genomic outlier, implicating divergent selection in generating or maintaining the cline. I investigated the thermoregulatory and freezing tolerance properties of the leaf shape genotypes, and discovered that lobed leaves remain marginally warmer at night, and a 1°C decrease separated mildly damaged and severely frost damaged tissue, potentially suggesting that a critical ambient temperature could drive differential leaf shape damage. I further explored three additional hypothesized selective agents (insect herbivores, flowering phenology and growth), and showed that these putative agents impose selection on I. hederacea, but do not differentiate between leaf shapes. These studies highlighted the challenge of identifying selective agents, even for a polymorphic trait with hypothesized selective mechanisms. To understand the contribution of adaptation and demography in shaping I. hederacea’s evolutionary history, I sequenced 7 nuclear loci from 192 individuals sampled from 24 populations and characterized patterns of nucleotide diversity. I demonstrated that I. hederacea is genetically structured in patches consistent with long-distance dispersal, genetically depauperate, and undergoing range expansion, suggesting a recent founder event or metapopulation dynamics. My thesis represents a comprehensive evaluation of the key processes affecting a polymorphism that influences plant morphology, geographical distribution, and population history.

Leaf shape is remarkably variable among plants, and hence likely has major consequence for ecological function and fitness. My thesis addresses the ecological significance of clinal variation for a leaf shape polymorphism in Ipomoea hederacea (lobed leaves dominate the north, entire-shaped leaves restricted to the south), and investigates the role of adaptation and demography in shaping its evolutionary history in its eastern North American range. To evaluate the adaptive value of the cline, I surveyed leaf shape genotypes from 77 populations , and found a steep latitudinal leaf shape cline that was not reflected in 173 neutral genetic markers. Furthermore, the leaf shape locus was a genomic outlier, implicating divergent selection in generating or maintaining the cline. I investigated the thermoregulatory and freezing tolerance properties of the leaf shape genotypes, and discovered that lobed leaves remain marginally warmer at night, and a 1°C decrease separated mildly damaged and severely frost damaged tissue, potentially suggesting that a critical ambient temperature could drive differential leaf shape damage. I further explored three additional hypothesized selective agents (insect herbivores, flowering phenology and growth), and showed that these putative agents impose selection on I. hederacea, but do not differentiate between leaf shapes. These studies highlighted the challenge of identifying selective agents, even for a polymorphic trait with hypothesized selective mechanisms. To understand the contribution of adaptation and demography in shaping I. hederacea’s evolutionary history, I sequenced 7 nuclear loci from 192 individuals sampled from 24 populations and characterized patterns of nucleotide diversity. I demonstrated that I. hederacea is genetically structured in patches consistent with long-distance dispersal, genetically depauperate, and undergoing range expansion, suggesting a recent founder event or metapopulation dynamics. My thesis represents a comprehensive evaluation of the key processes affecting a polymorphism that influences plant morphology, geographical distribution, and population history.

Complex structures and multiple interfaces of modern microelectronic packages complicate the interpretation of acoustic data. This study has four novel contributions. 1) Contributions to the finite element method. 2) Novel approaches to reduce computational cost. 3) New post processing technologies to interpret the simulation data. 4) Formation of theoretical guidance for acoustic image interpretation. The impact of simulation resolution on the numerical dispersion error and the exploration of quadrilateral infinite boundaries make up the first part of this thesis's contributions. The former focuses on establishing the convergence score of varying resolution densities in the time and spatial domain against a very high fidelity numerical solution. The latter evaluates the configuration of quadrilateral infinite boundaries in comparison against traditional circular infinite boundaries and quadrilateral Perfectly Matched Layers. The second part of this study features the modelling of a flip chip with a 140µm solder bump assembly, which is implemented with a 230MHz virtual raster scanning transducer with a spot size of 17µm. The Virtual Transducer was designed to reduce the total numerical elements from hundreds of millions to hundreds of thousands. Thirdly, two techniques are invented to analyze and evaluate simulated acoustic data: 1) The C-Line plot is a 2D max plot of specific gate interfaces that allows quantitative characterization of acoustic phenomena. 2) The Acoustic Propagation Map, contour maps an overall summary of intra sample wave propagation across the time domain in one image. Lastly, combining all the developments. The physical mechanics of edge effects was studied and verified against experimental data. A direct relationship between transducer spot size and edge effect severity was established. At regions with edge effect, the acoustic pulse interfacing with the solder bump edge is scattered mainly along the horizontal axis. The edge effect did not manifest in solder bump models without Under Bump Metallization (UBM). Measurements found acoustic penetration improvements of up to 44% with the removal of (UBM). Other acoustic mechanisms were also discovered and explored. Defect detection mechanism was investigated by modelling crack propagation in the solder bump assembly. Gradual progression of the crack was found have a predictable influence on the edge effect profile. By exploiting this feature, the progress of crack propagation from experimental data can be interpreted by evaluating the C-Scan image.

There is repeated evidence that hybridization is a major contributor to the production of adaptive diversity; however, the evolutionary fate of hybrids in natural populations remains poorly understood. In Heliconius butterflies, hybridization is common and responsible for generating a variety of warning color patterns across the genus. Predator avoidance of warning colorations appears to largely be learned, which drives strong positive frequency-dependent selection. This creates a paradox for hybrid lineages: how do novel hybrid forms manage to establish and persist under such strong selection? In this dissertation, I present a series of studies centered on the selection dynamics of Heliconius hybrid zones, to elucidate how novel adaptive traits establish in nature. Clines across hybrid zones have often been analyzed to estimate selection on ecologically important loci. Here, warning color clines were characterized and compared across multiple transects along a Heliconius hybrid zone in the Guiana Shield. Furthermore, a mark-resight experiment and communal roost observations were completed near the center of this hybrid zone to determine the survival and likelihood of establishment of native and foreign forms. These studies reveal similar survivorship of hybrid and pure color patterns, and specifically demonstrate that a rare putative hybrid form can survive and establish within a hybrid zone. Both hybrids and pure color patterns showed comparable life expectancies in the mark-resight experiment and similar patterns of presence at nocturnal roosts. These results suggest that selection on warning color pattern is relatively weak within the hybrid zone. Analyses of color pattern clines uncovered strong selection bounding the hybrid zone in bi-race areas, while weaker selection was estimated for a tri-race area. In fact, the tri-race area was three times wider than the bi-race areas. Collectively, these studies suggest that the selection dynamics across hybrid zones may play an integral role in the establishment of new adaptive traits, and offers a route by which a reputed hybrid race may have arisen. The investigations within this dissertation also provide a new view of hybrid zone dynamics, and improve our understanding of how hybridization and selection shapes the evolution of biodiversity.

Understanding how migration, genetic drift, and natural selection interact to maintain the genetic and phenotypic variation we observe in natural populations is a central goal of population genetics. Amphibians provide excellent model organisms for investigating the interplay between these evolutionary forces because amphibians are generally characterized by limited dispersal abilities, high philopatry, and are obligately associated with the areas around suitable habitats (e.g. breeding ponds). Thus, on relatively small geographic scales, the relative effects of all of these evolutionary forces can be studied together. Here, we study the interaction of migration, genetic drift, natural selection, and historical process in the ornate chorus frog (Pseudacris ornata). We report the development and characterization of 10 polymorphic microsatellite genetic markers. Number of alleles per locus ranged from 2 to 21 averaging 9.2 and expected heterozygosities ranged from 0.10 to 0.97 averaging 0.52. However, in an analysis of two populations, three locus-by-population comparisons exhibited significant heterozygote deficiencies and indicated that null alleles may be present some loci. Furthermore, we characterized genetic structure and historical biogeographic patterns in P. ornata using these microsatellite markers along with mitochondrial DNA sequence data. Our data indicate that in these frogs, migration may play a large role in determining population structure as pairwise estimates of FST were relatively small ranging from 0.04 to 0.12 (global FST = 0.083). Additionally, we observed an overall pattern of isolation-by-distance in neutral genetic markers across the species range. Moreover, our data suggest that the Apalachicola River basin does not impede gene flow in P. ornata as it does in many vertebrate taxa. Interestingly, we identified significant genetic structure between populations separated by only 6 km. However, this fine scale genetic structure was only present in the more urbanized of two widespread sampling localities. Finally, in this study, we demonstrated that there was a significant correlation between the frequency of green frogs and latitude. There was a higher frequency of green frogs in southern samples and a lower frequency of green frogs in northern samples. However, when we interpreted this phenotypic cline in light of the overall pattern of isolation-by-distance, it was apparent that the neutral evolutionary forces of genetic drift and migration could explain the cline, and the invocation of natural selection was not necessary.

<p>  </p> <p>Rapid climate change on a global scale is posing a considerable threat to forest biodiversity. Assessing physiological and genomic backgrounds of each tree is crucial for informing conservation and mitigation strategies to evaluate species or populations' vulnerability and adaptive capacity under climate change. The goal of my dissertation research was to use morpho-physiological and molecular approaches in combination with genomic background, as a backbone knowledge for enhancing the restoration and conservation of different hardwood tree species. The same approaches also led to a better understanding of mitigation strategies of tree species to evaluate their vulnerability and adaptability under climate change. To do so, the native <em>Juglans</em> species (<em>J. cinerea</em> and <em>J. nigra</em>), local species (Arizona walnut<em>; J. major, </em>California walnut; <em>J. hindsii</em>), exotic species (Persian walnut, <em>J. regia</em>) and its F1 interspecific hybrids were used as a case study to evaluate the level of cold hardiness in <em>Juglans</em>. Hybridization can integrate biotic and abiotic tolerance in plants and could be a potential forest restoration and conservation tool. Evidence from past studies in some F1 interspecific hybrids indicates that naturalized hybrids of Persian walnut with black walnut or butternut have higher level of tolerance to lower temperature than Persian walnut. The potential cold tolerance of native, local, exotic <em>Juglans</em> species and F1 interspecific hybrid using field, electrolyte leakage, qPCR, and genome analysis was investigated, and results presented in chapter 2. Differences in cold hardiness were observed in tested <em>Juglans</em> species, <em>J. regia</em> as an exotic species and <em>J. major</em> from Arizona maladapted in West Lafayette, Indiana. No sign of cold damage was observed in F1 interspecific hybrids or native species. Using morpho-physiological, molecular, and genome data, we confirmed that molecular and morpho-physiological data were highly correlated and thus can be used to characterize cold hardy trait in <em>Juglans</em> species. </p> <p>Although the native <em>Juglans</em> species are cold tolerant, with current trend of climate change and rapid tree migration to the northern range, it is not easy to predict how <em>Juglans</em> species may adapt to new environments and response to other biotic and abiotic stresses in future. A reference-genome assembly for nuclear and chloroplast genomes and cold hardy genes is presented in chapter 3. We used re-sequence genomes of 170 individuals collected from 20 <em>Juglans</em> species and <em>Carya</em> (as an outgroup) of the Juglandaceae family distributed in temperate-tropical forests of America and Asia. We integrate genome and temperature variables to identify a set of associated single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP), structural variations, and the geographical distribution of the variants in the genes related to local adaptation of <em>Juglans</em> across latitudes. Phylogeny analyses revealed that <em>Juglans</em> species were sorted based on their origin using the nuclear genome, cold-hardy genes, and organellar genome. <em>Juglans regia</em>, a native species of Asia and Europe, was distinct from other species and exhibited less genetic diversity than <em>Juglans</em> spp. of North America, based on whole genome and cold-hardy gene analysis. We identified the black walnut as a more diverse species and the California walnut and Persian walnut (<em>J. regia</em>) as less diverse species using selective sweep and heterozygosity analysis. Within <em>Juglans </em>species, those from colder areas exhibited higher diversity of cold hardy genes compared to the ones from warmer regions. Differences in genetic diversity among continents and latitudes did not follow a clear trend. Still, the level of gene diversity of <em>Juglans</em> from North America is higher than the species that originated in eastern Asia. We can use 65,000 nuclear SNPs variants in an ecological modeling system to predict genetic diversity and spatiotemporal shift of <em>Juglans</em> species in response to future climate change. These SNPs variants are helpful for forest tree breeding programs with aims such as marker-assisted selection (MAS), conservation or assisted migration in future.  </p> <p>Based on the findings of chapter 2 and 3, black walnut is the most diverse species with high genetic diversity in comparison with other <em>Juglans</em> species distributing across eastern forest of the USA. However, deeper knowledge of how this genetically diverse species will be affected by climate change is crucial. In chapter 3, we projected black walnut's current and future basal area. Utilizing machine learning, we tested different models using more than 1.4 million tree records from 10,162 Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) sample plots and 42 spatially explicit bioclimate and other environmental attributes. Ultimately, we used random forests (RF) model to estimate the basal area of black walnut under climate change. The mean of annual temperature and precipitation, potential evapotranspiration, topology, and human footprint were the most significant variables in prediction of basal area. Under two emission scenarios (Representative Concentration Pathway 4.5 and 8.5), the RF model projected that black walnut stocking will increase in the northern part of the current range in the USA by 2080, with a potential shift of species distribution range. However, uncertainty remains due to unpredictable events, including extreme abiotic (heat, drought) and biotic (pests, disease) occurrences. Our models can be adapted to other hardwood tree species to predict tree changes in the basal area based on future climate scenarios.  </p> <p>A similar approach of chapter 2, with a slightly different freeze test (whole plant freezing test) and use of cold-acclimated seedling was used in chapter 4. For cold acclimation, seedlings exposed to air temperatures progressively lowered for eight weeks (from 25.6/22.2 ºC to 8/4 ºC, day/night) and non-acclimated seedlings from sea level to 2,300 m, in tropical Hawaiʻi, USA to evaluate cold tolerance of koa. We also investigated gene expression using qPCR and wideseq sequencing in this study. Freezing tolerance varied significantly in non-acclimated versus cold-acclimated treatments across the elevation cline using the whole plant physiology-freezing test and gene expression. The level of freezing tolerance and the elevation at which seeds were collected were consistent with the frequency of freezing tolerance genes to facilitate variation interpretation in cold-hardy phenotypes. Findings of physiology and molecular data analysis for freezing tolerance of koa across the elevation gradient of the Hawaiian Islands provides insight into natural selection processes and will help to support forest restoration efforts. </p> <p>  </p>

La sélection naturelle constitue un processus clé de l’adaptation des populations à leur environnement, favorisant les variants présentant les meilleures valeurs sélectives. Les champignons présentent généralement des traits biologiques (diversité des modes de reproduction, grandes tailles de populations, fortes capacités de dispersion, entre autres) qui favorisent leur adaptation à des environnements variés. La compréhension des mécanismes qui sous-tendent l’évolution de leurs populations sous les contraintes, naturelles et anthropiques, qu’elles subissent constituent donc un enjeu majeur pour la protection des plantes, en particulier dans le contexte actuel de durabilité des méthodes de lutte. Dans cette thèse, nous avons décrit la structure et la diversité des populations Botrytis cinerea à l’aide de marqueurs neutres et sélectionnés et d’un échantillonnage emboîté, et avons proposé des mécanismes pouvant expliquer les résultats observés. Puis nous avons analysé la réponse adaptative des populations de B. cinerea en Champagne, aux applications de fongicides. Premièrement, nous avons montré que la pourriture grise était causée par un complexe de deux espèces cryptiques, vivant en sympatrie sur des hôtes communs. De plus, les populations françaises de B. cinerea sont structurées en cinq dèmes, caractérisés par le système de culture (sélection directionnelle), la plante-hôte (adaptation écologique), et dans une moindre mesure, par la géographie. Sur vigne, nous avons mis en évidence une entité dont l’isolement génétique semble lié à un isolement temporel. Par ailleurs, nous avons montré que l’application de fongicides conduit à la sélection de phénotypes résistants spécifiquement à quasiment tous les modes d’action homologués, selon des proportions variant suivant les vignobles et les usages. Plus particulièrement, la résistance aux fongicides inhibiteurs de la succinate déshydrogénase (SDHI) est causée par au moins sept mutations affectant les gènes encodant la protéine cible de ces fongicides, déterminant ainsi une grande variété de phénotypes. Enfin, nous avons montré que les fongicides ne modifiaient pas la structure neutre des populations mais qu’ils pouvaient conduire à une perte de richesse allélique dans les populations traitées ainsi qu’à un équilibre sélection-migration détectable dans certaines situations sous forme de clines au loci sous pression de sélection contemporaine tels que ceux déterminant la résistance multidrogues. La modélisation de l’évolution des fréquences de résistance hivernale a permis d’estimer le coût de la résistance pour quatre loci déterminant la résistance aux fongicides. Cette thèse a permis d’appréhender le fonctionnement des populations de B. cinerea et de comprendre et quantifier partiellement les mécanismes sélectifs opérant in natura. Ces informations seront utilisées pour raisonner des stratégies anti-résistance adaptées localement et durables. / Natural selection is the most powerful force driving population adaptation to their environment, favoring the variants with the best fitness. Fungi generally exhibit biological traits (diversity of reproduction modes, large population sizes, and intense dispersion) that favor their adaptation to changing environments. Therefore, disentangling the mechanisms that explain their evolution under natural and anthropic constraints constitute a major challenge for plant protection, especially in the actual context of agriculture sustainability. In this thesis, we described Botrytis cinerea population structure and diversity, using neutral and selected markers and a hierarchical sampling, and proposed mechanisms that may explain these observations. We then analyzed the adaptive answer of this species towards fungicide applications. First, we showed that grey mold populations were caused by a complex of two cryptic species, living sympatrically on the same hosts. Second, B. cinerea populations are divided into five demes, according to the cropping system (directional selection), the host-plant (ecological adaptation), and to a lesser extent, by geography. On grapevine, we identified a specific populations exhibiting temporal isolation, as an evidence of extreme exploration of the viticultural conditions. Moreover, fungicide applications select resistance towards all unisite modes of action, with few exceptions, but at varying proportions according to vineyards and fungicide use. More specifically, resistance to succinate dehydrogenase inhibitors (SDHIs) is caused by at least seven mutations altering the target genes of these fungicides, and determines a large variety of phenotypes in the field. At last, we showed that fungicides did not shape population structure but that they could decrease allele richness in treated areas and lead to migration-selection equilibrium, detectable in some situation and for loci under contemporary selective pressures as clines. Modeling the evolution of resistance during winter allowed estimating fitness cost of four loci involved in contemporary fungicide resistance, such as multidrug resistance. As a conclusion, this thesis helped to understand how B. cinerea populations evolve and to detect and quantify selective mechanisms at work in natura. This information will be useful to deign sustainable and locally-adapted anti-resistance strategies.

In South Africa students from disadvantaged educational backgrounds enrol at institutions of higher learning underprepared for the academic work expected of them. One reason for this is that English in South Africa is primarily an urban language and both Black children and teachers, especially in rural areas, lack sufficient exposure to it (Lemmer 1995) and at tertiary institutions students are expected to communicate efficiently in the language of instruction. The real-world problem at issue is ultimately the need for these students studying through the medium of English to develop their ability to participate actively in tutorials to improve both their academic understanding and their spoken discourse competence, which includes the ‘highly complex task of participating in talk-in-interaction’ (Dalton-Puffer 2007:280). Underlying the present study, then, is the conviction that through frequent interaction in the language of instruction, students will not only gain competence in speaking skills, but also deepen and expand their knowledge of their subject areas. This conviction led to the introduction of tutorials on a trial basis in my department and the study sought to develop a framework for analysing patterns of interaction in the tutorials that would also address the question of how the quality of such patterns might be assessed. The main construct investigated was ‘participation effectiveness’ (the quantity of speaker discourse acts and turns and speaker initiative at discourse act and turn-taking levels) and the overall findings indicated that third-year students participated more effectively than first-years; females performed better than males; and males in male-led tutorials used more discourse acts than females; while females in female-led tutorials did better than males. The analyses of effects of tutor discourse behaviour on student participation revealed that the types of questions tutors used and how they were combined were strong determinants of students' participation effectiveness. Although the approach of the study is essentially quantitative, the operationalisation of this main construct's two key components, namely 'participation' and 'initiative', forms a basis for also deriving more qualitative insights into this academically very important genre of spoken discourse. / Linguistics / D. Litt. et Phil. (Linguistics)

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T15:01:30Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2006-Marcio de Araujo Silva.pdf: 1021649 bytes, checksum: 0b981908af67bec8e46455a6b9a080ca (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006-04-25 / Morphological variation for the anchovy Lycengraulis grossidens (Agassiz, 1829) in 14 sites along the Brazilian coast (Par? to Rio Grande do Sul) were described to quantify the intraspecific heterogeneity, and to test the hypothesis that seeking for adaptability to different areas results in differentiated patterns that characterize isolated populations. A total of 210 individuals from collection from Museums plus donations, were examined, from which 18 morphometric and 5 meristic characters were taken. Three groups (populations) were formed based on morphometrics and one additional group (4 groups) by meristic characters, indicating the presence of 4 populations along the Brazilian coast. Population I, from the Par? coast, inhabit an area of major influence of the Amazon river, showing waters of low salinity and high temperature. Population II, from Cear? to Esp?rito Santo State, has a wider distribution, showing overall similar mophological characters to population I, indicating gene flow between these two populations. Population III comprises fishes between Rio de Janeiro and S?o Paulo States, and show a transition zone with population II well evidenced in the north of Rio de Janeiro, suggesting to be an hybridizing area. Population IV, from Santa Catarina to Rio Grande do Sul, showed the highest number and largest sized gillrakers, being the most morphologically differentiated group. Fishes from low latitudes showed higher body width, head length, cheek length, maxilla length, mouth length and peduncle width compared with fishes from high latitude. Additionally, specimens from Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul showed anal and dorsal fins located in more posterior body position, while anal fin base was larger for specimens form Rio de Janeiro and S?o Paulo, indicating that fishes from this former areas (SC and RS) have higher capacity to move in higher speed when compared with fishes from this latter area (RJ e SP). Concerning to meristics characters, there is an increased number of gillrakers from lower to higher latitudes, coinciding with the expectation of somites addition to occur faster in acceleration condition than under retarding condition, but finish abruptly, resulting in lower number of meristics element in higher temperatures. Several zoogeographic pattern has been described for the Brazilian coast, with the Antillean Province situated at north of Cabo Frio (23oS), a transition area between Cabo Frio (23oS) and the surrounds of Cabo de Santa Marta Grande (28?-30?S), and the Argentine Province up to 35?S, with this division closely coinciding with L.grossidens populations distribution in this study, except for the Para coast, where we recognize a differentiated group. / Varia??es morfo-meristicas da manjuba Lycengraulis grossidens (Agassiz, 1829) em 14 localidades da costa brasileira (Par? ao Rio Grande do Sul) foram descritas com o objetivo de quantificar a heterogeneidade intra-espec?fica, visando testar a hip?tese de que a adaptabilidade em ?reas diferentes resulta em padr?es diferenciados que caracterizem diferentes popula??es. Foram examinados 210 indiv?duos oriundos de cole??es depositadas em Museus e complementadas com doa??es, dos quais foram tomados 18 caracteres morfom?tricos e 5 mer?sticos. Tr?s grupos (popula??es) foram formados com base nos caracteres morfom?tricos e um grupo adicional (4 grupos) por caracteres mer?sticos, indicando a presen?a de 4 popula??es ao longo da costa brasileira. A popula??o I, do litoral do Par?, habita uma ?rea sob grande influ?ncia do rio Amazonas, com ?guas de baixa salinidade e alta temperatura. A popula??o II, que se estende do Cear? ao Esp?rito Santo, ? a de distribui??o mais ampla, apresentando em geral caracteres morfol?gicos semelhantes aos da popula??o I, o que poderia indicar a exist?ncia de fluxo g?nico entre as mesmas. A popula??o III compreende os peixes distribu?dos entre Rio de Janeiro e S?o Paulo, e apresenta uma zona de transi??o com a popula??o II bastante evidenciada no norte do Rio de Janeiro, aparentando ser esta ?ltima uma ?rea de hibridiza??o. A popula??o IV, de Santa Catarina e Rio Grande do Sul, apresenta como caracter?sticas mais marcantes o n?mero e o comprimento dos rastros branquiais, sendo o grupo morfologicamente mais diferenciado. Peixes de baixas latitudes apresentaram maior altura do corpo, comprimento da cabe?a, comprimento da face, comprimento da maxila, comprimento da boca e altura do ped?nculo caudal, comparados aos peixes de altas latitudes. Adicionalmente, os esp?cimes da popula??o IV apresentaram nadadeira anal e dorsal localizadas em posi??o mais posterior do corpo, enquanto a base da nadadeira anal foi maior em esp?cimes do Rio de Janeiro e S?o Paulo, indicando que peixes da popula??o IV possuem maior capacidade de se deslocar em velocidade quando comparados com peixes do Rio de Janeiro e S?o Paulo. Em rela??o aos caracteres mer?sticos verificou-se um aumento do n?mero de rastros branquiais das menores para as maiores latitudes, coincidindo com a expectativa de que a adi??o de somitos ocorre mais rapidamente sob condi??es de acelera??o do que sob condi??es retardantes, mas termina mais abruptamente, resultando em menor n?mero de elementos mer?sticos em temperaturas mais altas. V?rios padr?es zoogeogr?ficos t?m sido sugeridos para a costa brasileira, com a Prov?ncia Antilhana situada ao norte de Cabo Frio (23oS), uma ?rea de transi??o entre Cabo Frio (23oS) e o os arredores Cabo de Santa Marta Grande (28?-30?S), e a Prov?ncia Argentina at? 35?S, com esta divis?o da costa de certo modo, coincidindo com as distribui??es das popula??es de L.grossidens encontradas no presente trabalho, com exce??o da ?rea costeira do Par?, onde reconhecemos um grupo diferenciado.