Sleep is a complex behavioral state with ramifications on multiple levels of homeostasis including bodily function, neural activity, and molecular signaling. Sleep is conserved across evolution, though significant variations in sleep duration, architecture, and behavior are found across phyla. Decoding neural processing underlying behavior, including sleep, is a fundamental aim in neuroscience, and understanding how such behavior has evolved remains largely unknown. The encompassing goal of this dissertation is to elucidate the genetic and neuronal factors at play in the evolution of sleep loss in the blind Mexican tetra, Astyanax mexicanus. To this end, the work found within will explore peripheral sensory systems regulating distinct mechanisms of sleep loss, demonstrate how evolved changes in specific hypothalamic circuits drive sleep reductions, apply computational techniques to understand whole-brain evolution, and finally, will show how the generation of transgenic tools in a novel model system can be harnessed to assist functional experimental paradigms in relation to evolution and behavior. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2020. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Economic game theory has been a challenge to traditional models of selfish human nature. Resource acquisition games, such as the dictator game, which have been primarily played by adults, have revealed that humans are inclined to share even when it is not in their best interest to do so. Few studies have been conducted on the development of resource distribution in children, and fewer still have explored the effect of context and level of involvement of a second player in such games. In the current study, 179 children from kindergarten, first, and second grades participated in a modified dictator game with another player. Children were randomly assigned to one of four conditions; a control condition, where they played individually with an anonymous player, or one of three experimental conditions with two players who each played with varying levels of involvement with the second player. It was found that kindergarteners shared significantly less across conditions than first and second graders, with first and second graders sharing similar amounts. The presence of another player significantly increased the amount of sharing for all grades. Additionally, second players shared significantly less than first players. Developmental and contextual patterns of sharing are discussed. / by Jason Grotuss. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2011. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2011. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T20:13:14Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DissCMM.pdf: 1080056 bytes, checksum: 680a936f2c1489a0929bda420eb06482 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2004-03-19 / Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos / B. F. Skinner describes and explains human behavior through the selection by consequences causative model. According to this model, human behavior evolves through interactions among three levels of variability and selection (phylogeny, ontogeny and culture). Three flaws are pointed out by the author in the selection by consequences model. The conception of Man as a cultural planner, suggested in this study, allows the solution of the third flaw . This study had as its aim to investigate Man s conception in Skinner s Radical Behaviorism, derived from his theory on behavior evolution, interpreted as a commitment to the good of the culture. To achieve this, this thesis goes through three aspects: 1st Behavior evolution through the interrelations between survival and reinforcement contingencies; 2nd-Cultures evolution through the interrelations between reinforcement and cultural contingencies; 3rd Man s conception in Skinner s Radical Behaviorism in benefit of the good of the culture. / B.F. Skinner descreve e explica o comportamento humano por meio do modelo causal da seleção pelas conseqüências. Segundo esse modelo, o comportamento humano evolui através das interações entre três níveis de variação e seleção (filogênese, ontogênese e cultura). Três falhas são apontadas, pelo autor, no modelo da seleção pelas conseqüências. A concepção de Homem como planejador cultural, sugerida neste trabalho, permite a solução da terceira falha . Esse estudo teve como objetivo investigar a concepção de Homem no Behaviorismo Radical de Skinner, a partir de sua teoria sobre a evolução do comportamento, interpretada como um compromisso com o bem da cultura. Para tanto a dissertação percorre três aspectos: 1°- A evolução do comportamento através das inter-relações entre contingências de sobrevivência e de reforço; 2°- A evolução das culturas através das inter-relações entre as contingências de reforço e as contingências culturais; 3°- A concepção de Homem no Behaviorismo Radical de Skinner em prol do bem da cultura.

In this thesis I investigated the genetic basis of several behaviours to answer questions surrounding the evolution and mechanistic basis of behaviour. Firstly, I took a single-gene approach to investigate the influence of fruitless (fru) on the courtship behaviour of Drosophila. fru is an alternatively-spliced transcription factor that is necessary for the production of male sexual behaviours, and has also been implicated in producing species-specific differences in courtship song. I investigated the patterns of selection acting on fru at the sequence level and found that positive selection was restricted to the alternatively spliced exons of fru. From this I hypothesised that the positively selected changes in fru would contribute to species-specific differences in courtship song. To test this I examined how isoform-specific fru loss-of-function mutants influence courtship song, and generated “species-swapped” flies whereby regions of fru that showed evidence for positive selection were transferred from four species of Drosophila, into D. melanogaster. Contrary to prediction, I found flies that lacked isoforms containing positively selected regions did not show any differences in courtship song. Unfortunately “species-swapped” flies were not generated in time to examine phenotypes and neuroanatomy as intended. Next, I examined the genetic basis of cold acclimation in two species of Drosophila using a transcriptomic approach. I found that the genes differentially expressed in response to cold acclimation were largely different in each of the species; however, the biological processes they were involved in were broadly similar. Finally, I investigated the transcriptomic changes associated with parental care in the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides to determine if males and females alter the genes they express when parenting alone versus with a partner. I found that males greatly reduced their transcriptional response when parenting with a partner, suggesting they reduce the care they provide when present with a female.

Discipline was implemented by mothers and alloparent spotted dolphins (Stenella frontalis) mothers and alloparents on Little Bahama Bank, Bahamas. Disciplinarians were significantly more likely to be adults than juveniles. Although most disciplinarians were female, males were also observed to perform discipline. The recipients of discipline were male and female, and significantly more likely to be calves than juveniles. Pursuit, contact, and display behaviors were used in discipline, however pursuit behaviors were most often observed. Variables such as age class, sex, and parity were not found to influence how discipline was implemented. The durations of all disciplinary pursuits were under thirty seconds, and successful pursuits had slightly shorter duration than unsuccessful pursuits. Disciplinarian success was not significantly influenced by age class, sex, parity, or behavior used. / by Meghan Weinpress. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013. / Includes bibliography. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / System requirements: Adobe Reader.

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