Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri--Columbia, 2004. / "July 2004." Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 93-102). Also issued on the Internet.

Thesis (doctoral)--Lund University, 1996.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 170-179). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Thesis (doctoral)--Lund University, 1996.

Thesis (M.S.)--Michigan State University. School of Criminal Justice, 2008. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Aug. 7, 2009) Includes bibliographical references (p. 52-54). Also issued in print.

Thesis (M.Sc.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2004. / Bibliography: leaves 105-123.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Illinois State University, 1999. / Title from title page screen, viewed July 24, 2006. Dissertation Committee: David W. Borst (chair), Angelo P. Capparella, Sabine S. Loew, Edward L. Mockford, Carleton J. Phillips, Douglas W. Whitman. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 77-89) and abstract. Also available in print.

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Canterbury, 2006. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 103-111). Also available via the World Wide Web.

Abstract Genetic diversity in three taiga specialists – the Siberian tit (Parus cinctus), the Siberian jay (Perisoreus infaustus) and the Siberian flying squirrel (Pteromys volans) – was assessed by comparing DNA sequence variation across the mitochondrial control region and allele frequencies of microsatellites from samples collected from Fennoscandia and Siberia. Population sizes of these species have declined in association with fragmentation and loss of suitable forest habitat due to modern forestry practices in Fennoscandia. The red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris) served as a reference for the flying squirrel. Genetic differentiation among species studied ranged from a panmictic population in the Siberian tit to that of the strong differentiation of populations (θST = 53%) in the flying squirrel in Finland. MtDNA and microsatellite data, together with assignment studies, showed the Siberian jay population to be significantly genetically structured and supported the existence of a metapopulation like structuring in Fennoscandia. Division of genetic variation among flying squirrel populations along the ancient shoreline of the Littorina Lymnea Sea stage of the Baltic Sea (7000 BP) and two geographically associated branches in the minimum spanning network supported a two-way colonisation history for the species. The Finnish inland appears to have been colonised from the east in association with the arrival of Norway spruce. At the same time, Coastal Finland was colonised from the south-east through the Karelian Isthmus. Gene flow of the species appeared female biased and restricted. Species exhibiting more restrictive dispersal characteristics and habitat requirements possessed stronger population genetic structure than those with opposite characteristics. Growth or contractions in population size leave characteristic signatures in mtDNA that can be studied by comparing different sequence diversity estimates among populations. I applied this method to the species studied. Significant differences in nucleotide diversities indicated restrictions in gene flow among populations in all species studied. Half of the Siberian jay populations gave a signal of population size bottleneck. All the species studied showed differences in their population genetic structures across their entire distribution ranges consistent with the multirefugia model, most likely to be attributable to differences in their ecological characteristics and Pleistocene histories.

Abstract Mitochondrial DNA sequences were used to study the phylogeny, population structure and colonisation history of Parus species. The phylogenetic relationships of seven European and three American species were examined by sequencing a part of the cytochrome b gene. Phylogenetically the closest species were the great tit (Parus major) and the blue tit (P. caeruleus). Subgenus Poecile was divided into two clades, one consisting of the Siberian tit (P. cinctus), the Carolina chickadee (P. carolinensis) and the Black-capped chickadee (P. atricapillus) and the other consisting of the marsh tit (P. palustris) and the willow tit (P. montanus). The coal tit (P. ater) and the crested tit (P. cristatus) did not group with any of the species studied. The population structure and the colonisation history of the willow tit, the great tit and the blue tit were examined by using control region sequences. The results suggest that the historical effective population size in the willow tit has been large and not contracted by the last ice age. Current gene flow must also be extensive as no population structuring was detected. No population structuring was evident either in the great tit and the populations showed distinctive signs of a recent population expansion. The patterns of genetic variation probably reflect a population bottleneck during the ice age, and a recolonisation of the European continent thereafter, presumably from a refugium situated in the Balkans. Two maternal lineages were found in the blue tit. The southern lineage was restricted to the Iberian peninsula whereas the northern lineage was detected from all the populations. The colonisation history has been similar to the one suggested for the great tit. The southern lineage, however, may have survived the ice age in a different refugium in the Iberian peninsula and was not as successful as the northern lineage in colonising available regions when the ice retreated. Both, the blue tit and the great tit have continued to expand their distribution northwards during this century and gene flow plays an important role in homogenising the populations.