No description available.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1963. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1958. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 75-81).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin, 1966. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2003. / Supervisor: Mary Ann Rankin. Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Also available from UMI.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1966. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

No description available.

This study sought to examine the physiological correlates of migratory flight performance the North American migratory grasshopper Melanoplus sanguinipes Fabricius (Orthoptera: Acrididae) with a focus on mechanisms of resource allocation, the dynamics of hemolymph proteins, their interface with immune function, and the mechanism of flight-enhanced oogenesis. The performance of long duration flights has been shown previously to be of reproductive benefit to females who make them. Examination of possible mechanisms of resource compensation for the costs of flight showed no significant increase in either feeding, mating or digestion in females who performed long duration flight. A comparison of two populations of M. sanguinipes from Arizona and Colorado showed significant variation in body size, diapause regulation as well as internal and external morphology. The two populations did not differ in taxonomic characters or in short sequences of genomic and mitochondrial DNA. The follicle cell epithelium of ovaries from M. sanguinipes was examined for its relationship to juvenile hormone III (JH III). JH III induces patency in vitro in intercellular spaces of M. sanguinipes follicular epithelium as well as the characteristic apical endocytosis at the follicle cell oocyte interface. Exogenous JH III treatment of females on day 7 in lieu of flight reduced the threshold for induction of patency to 10-7 M JH III from 10-5 M JH III. These results indicate that JH III can act as a prime to the pump of oogenesis. An HPLC/LC-MS peptidomic survey of the hemolymph of M. sanguinipes following flight performance showed the presence of and changes in serine protease inhibitors. These peptides regulate numerous protease cascades involved in reproduction and immunity which suggested that flight might have a more broad impact than previously thought. Males who performed these flights showed a higher probability of surviving a bacterial challenge. The duration of flight performance was positively correlated in males with increases in titers of the hemolymph lipoproteins apolipophorin I and hexemerin. The exchangeable apolipophorin III showed no variation in correlation with flight. Females were not affected by flight performance in terms of hemolymph protein titers or the probability of surviving a bacterial challenge. These results suggest that the lipid transport system plays an important role in the immune response of this insect. / text

The Melanoplus scudderi species group, when erected by Blatchley, contained six species. The revision of the group presented here describes 21 new species and establishes the Melanoplus carnegiei group, all of which are associated with grasslands in the Southeast. Analysis of DNA barcoding data, suggest that the technique does not adequately delineate species based on the morphological concepts presented here, but did produce three broad mitochondrial DNA clades that correspond to the Apalachicola and Mississippi River discontinuity phylogeographic pattern displayed by several other organisms in the Southeastern United States. This pattern is attributed to vicariant events resulting from Pleistocene glaciation. A hypothetical evolutionary history of the Scudderi and Carnegiei groups is presented. Natural grasslands historically covered a significant portion of the southeastern United States. These grasslands contribute significantly to the biodiversity of the region with many endemic or rare species inhabiting them. Grasshoppers are important components of temperate grassland ecosystems, but no comprehensive review of the grasshopper fauna of southeastern grasslands had previously been conducted. Here a review of the regional fauna was conducted. In total, 211 grasshopper species have been documented in the Southeast, with 111 species (53%) being endemic to natural grasslands. Of particular note, 74 species (34% of the regional fauna) are endemic to the longleaf pine ecosystem. Many of the non-endemic grasshopper species inhabiting grasslands in the region are disjunct from larger populations west of the Mississippi River, presenting interesting biogeographic distributions. Additionally, a cluster analysis of grasshopper community composition from several types of grasslands in the region supports the faunal distinctiveness of the different types grasslands in the region.