Premise: Invasive plant species can integrate into native plant–pollinator communities, but the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Competitive interactions between invasive and native plants via heterospecific pollen (HP) and differential invasive HP effects depending on HP arrival time to the stigma may mediate invasion success, but these have been little studied. Methods: We evaluated patterns and effects of HP receipt on pollen tube growth in two native and one invasive species in the field. We also used hand-pollination experiments to evaluate the effect of invasive HP pollen and its arrival time on native reproductive success. Results: Native species receive smaller and less-diverse HP loads (5–7 species) compared to invasive species (10 species). The load size of HP had a negative effect on the proportion of pollen tubes in both native species but not in the invasive, suggesting higher HP tolerance in the latter. Invasive HP arrival time differentially affected pollen tube success in native species. Conclusions: Our results highlight the need to study reciprocal HP effects between invasive and native species and the factors that determine differential responses to HP receipt to fully understand the mechanisms facilitating invasive species integration into native plant–pollinator communities.

The Puerto Rican coqui frog, Eleutherodactylus coqui, was introduced to Hawaii in the late 1980s via the commercial horticulture trade. Previous research has shown that coquis can change invertebrate communities, but these studies were conducted at small scales using controlled, manipulative experiments. The objective of this research was to determine whether coqui invasions change invertebrate communities at the landscape scale across the island of Hawaii. At each invasion front, we measured environmental variability on either side of the front and removed sites that were too variable across the front to ensure that the impacts we measured were the result of the invasion. After doing this, there remained 15 sites for which we compared invertebrate communities in 30 m x 30 m plots situated on either side of coqui invasion fronts. In each plot, we collected invertebrate samples from three invertebrate communities, the leaf litter, foliage, and flying invertebrate communities. Multivariate analyses show that coqui frogs change leaf litter communities, by reducing microbivore and herbivore abundances. Coqui also change flying community composition, but have no measurable effect on foliage communities. Across sites, we found that coquis reduced the number of leaf litter invertebrates by 27%, and specifically abundant Acari by 36%. We also found that coquis increased the abundance of flying Diptera by 19% across sites. We suggest that the leaf litter community is altered through direct coqui predation and that Diptera increase because of increased frog carcasses and excrement in invaded plots. Results support previous studies conducted in more controlled settings, but add to our understanding of the invasion by demonstrating that coqui effects on invertebrate communities are measurable at the landscape scale.

Coccinella septempunctata L. (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) has been introduced to North America in recent decades, raising concerns of adverse impacts on native lady beetles, including the congeneric C. transversoguttata richardsoni (Brown). The central focus of my dissertation is to understand the importance of reproduction, in particular, in promoting invasion of C. septempunctata and its replacement of native lady beetles in alfalfa fields of western North America. Studies were conducted to compare reproductive tactics of the invasive C. septempunctata and the native C. transversoguttata, by addressing: 1) maximum rate of reproduction of overwintered lady beetles, 2) population dynamics of the invasive and native lady beetles and their aphid prey, and seasonal reproductive patterns, over a 3-year period (2004'2006) in alfalfa fields, 3) reproductive tactics and plasticity in response to various prey availabilities, and 4) ovarian dynamics and observation of oosorption in response to prey removal. The invasive C. septempunctata gained a reproductive advantage over native, North American lady beetles from its larger body size when feeding on abundant prey. The invasive species gained additional advantage by its allocation of prey to larger numbers of relatively small eggs. In alfalfa fields, females of C. septempunctata reproduced more readily and laid more eggs than females of C. transversoguttata even at low prey density. C. septempunctata females collected from the field were also more successful in approaching their maximum body weights and reproduction, as observed under ideal conditions, than were females of native C. transversoguttata. In the laboratory, C. septempunctata females produced larger numbers of relatively small eggs, and they maintained their body weights even as they were producing eggs at low rates when aphids were provided in limited numbers. More immediate adjustment of reproductive effort with prey removal, and higher recovery of reproductive rate when prey again became available, were observed in C. septempunctata, compared with C. transcersoguttata. These reproductive abilities of C. septempucntata may contribute to its invasion success and dominance in alfalfa fields. Further studies are needed to determine why females of C. septempunctata are in better physiological condition than are females of C. transversoguttata in spring alfalfa fields.

Endoparasite community structure has been poorly studied in migratory birds, particularly among the seabirds of south Florida. We examined parasite communities in seven south Florida seabird species: brown pelican Pelecanus occidentalis (n=33), northern gannet Morus bassanus (n=31), double-crested cormorant Phalacrocorax auritus (n=33), osprey Pandion haliaetus (n=27), royal tern Thalasseus maximus (n=30), herring gull Larus argentatus (n=12), and laughing gull Leucophaeus atricilla (n=40). We identified 33 parasitic helminth species: 6 nematodes, 2 cestodes, 3 acanthocephalans, and 22 digeneans. Subsequent pairwise tests and similarity profile analysis identified four distinct clusters with similar parasite community structures: (1) pelican and gannet; (2) cormorant; (3) osprey; and (4) tern and both gull species. The mean infracommunity observed species richness differed among the several seabird host species with the highest observed values in pelicans (5.7±0.4) and gannets (5.1±0.4), while the lowest values were seen in herring (0.8±0.7) and laughing (0.4±0.4) gulls. RELATE analyses indicated that the factors of host phylogeny (Rho=0.564, p=0.017), host feeding range (Rho=0.553, p=0.005), and host feeding technique (Rho=0.553, p=0.039) were significant and had similar magnitudes of effect on the structure of observed parasite communities within the several seabird species of this study. Host prey preference was not significant from the RELATE analyses (Rho=0.124, p=0.278), suggesting that preferred prey items of the several seabird hosts had a negligible impact in the structuring of parasite communities. From our results, host phylogeny and host feeding ecology are important driving factors of parasite community composition and structure of these south Florida seabirds, while host prey preference had little influence on parasite communities.

No description available.

No description available.

Previous studies based on morphological, allozymic and mitochondrial sequence data have indicated that Liomys pictus is paraplyletic relative to L. spectabilis. The purpose of this study was to determine the species boundaries that exist within this complex. I estimated phylogenetic relationships within this complex using sequence data from 1,140 bp of the mitochondrial DNA cytochrome b gene and two nuclear introns from engrailed protein (190 bp) and myosin heavy chain (254 bp) genes for approximately 712 individuals representing 82 localities across the range of L. pictus and L. spectabilis. Maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian analyses suggest that there are six species within the L. pictus complex using the Weins-Penkrot approach and Templeton's cohesion test for delimitating species whereas previously only two have been recognized.

Successful architecture is an engagement of space that fosters learning and growth. It is the space in which we are drawn away from the distractions around us, allowing us to focus on the present. It offers the opportunity to not only learn and grow relationships, but also to rehabilitate broken and fractured ones. Through this learning and growth, we become better understanding and loving toward each other. Thus, architecture stands as a true mediator of the relationships that exist around the world. Architecture is not exclusive toward human to human engagement. Architecture can extend beyond the understanding of human and engage many species such as canines. This thesis proposes to investigate a cross-species architecture serving to rehabilitate broken and fractured interspecies relationships. Focusing on one of the strongest human-interspecies relationships to exist, this thesis will conduct research-based design on the human and dog relationship. Although the human and dog relationship are one of the stronger cross-species relationships, there remains complex and fractured components. For example, in many aspects across homeless and stray dogs, the human and dog relationship has vii become one that is extremely broken and fractured. This thesis proposes to take an in depth look at the historical context and the present human-canine relationship and understanding how architecture can be used to grow the relationship. In allowing cross-species architecture to act the mediator in rehabilitating the fractured components of the human and dog relationship, the level of learning and growth within the human and dog relationship can reach new heights.

The developments of species distribution modeling techniques have brought new opportunities in the field of biological invasion management. In particular, statistical niche modeling for spatio-temporal predictions of species’ distribution is a widely spread tool that has proved its efficiency. The main purpose of this Master thesis is to study applicability of species distribution modeling to invasive alien species, with the aim of supporting efficient decision-making for their prevention. Some research questions are: how useful can species distribution modeling be for invasives’ prevention? Is distribution modeling technically feasible in the case of invasive species? What types of techniques are recommended to model distributions of IAS? What are the limits of such a tool? The methods employed to answer these questions are literature review and expert advice. I found that species distribution models can provide risk maps which are necessary to enable effective invasive alien species’ prevention. However intrinsic characteristics of invasives introduce uncertainties in the predictions made. Consequently several preliminary analyses should be conducted before applying the distribution model. Finally recommendations were made on the most appropriate distribution modeling technique to use depending on the urgency of the situation and the availability of data. / Utvecklingen av metoder för modelering av artdistribution har medfört nya möjligheter inom området hantering av biologiska invasioner. Statistisk nischmodelering för spatio-temporala förutsägelser av arters distribution är ett väl använt verktyg som har visat sig vara effektivt. Det övergripande målet med det här arbetet har varit att studera hur lämpad artmodelering är vid förebyggande av invasioner av främmande arter. Det har även undersökts huruvida metoden kan bidra till bättre och enklare beslutsfattande när det kommer till att förhindra sådana invasioner. Forskningsfrågorna lyder: hur användbart är fördelningsmodelering för förebyggande av spriding av invasiva arter? Är distributionsmodelering tekniskt genomförbar när det gäller invasiva arter? Vilka olika tekniker rekommenderas för att modelera spridningen av invasiva arter? Vilka begräsningar har modelerna? De metoder som används är litteraturöversikt och expertråd. Resultaten visar att artdistributionsmodelering kan bidra till att sammanställa riskkartor som är nödvändiga för att möjliggöra ett förebyggande arbete. Men speciella egenskaper hos de invasiva arterna som är svåra att förutse skapar osäkerheter i resultatet. Därför kan preliminära analyser med fördel genomföras innan modelering. I slutsatserna återfinns rekommendationer för vilken distributionsmodelteknik man bör använda, beroende av hur brådskande situationen är och om data finns tillgängligt.

Heteromys pictus-spectabilis is a species complex within the subfamily Heteromyinae (Family: Heteromyidae) that is distributed along the western and southern Mexican coast and surrounding environments. Currently, the species complex is accepted as being 2 separate species (H. pictus and H. spectabilis), but this also renders H. pictus paraphyletic. Therefore, the species complex requires re-evaluation in order to resolve the paraphyly. Mitochondrial DNA sequences from a previously existing ~720 specimen database compiled by Victoria Vance were used in conjunction with new nuclear DNA sequences sequenced for the purpose of this study to generate multiple phylogenetic trees via the software programs RAxML, BEAST, and MrBayes to evaluate how different haplotype networks were related to each other. Using these molecular datasets in consideration with Kimura two-parameter values, time calibrations via BEAST, and the relative geographic locations of the haplotype networks, the results strongly indicate this species complex is composed of multiple cryptic species and potentially multiple genera. This was a preliminary exploration into this species complex however, and future research will be required to verify these findings.