viii, 21 p. : ill. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / To determine the relative effects of rapid climate change on selection and drift in
small populations, nine northern populations of the pitcher-plant mosquito, Wyeomyia
smithii, were exposed to directional selection equivalent to 180 years of climate change,
while control populations were maintained in their native climate. After three years,
fitness had declined in the selected but not the control populations, indicating an adverse
effect of climate change. When both selected and control populations were then reared in
the selected climate, they showed no difference in fitness, indicating no genetic response
to selection. Importantly, however, fitness was negatively correlated with accumulated
inbreeding in both control and selected populations, pointing out that the effects of
inbreeding and drift exceeded those of selection imposed by rapid climate change.
Therefore, small northern populations at expanding edges of species' distributions should
be most vulnerable to continued climate change. / Committee in Charge:
Dr. William Bradshaw, Chair;
Dr. Christina Holzapfel;
Dr. Nathan Tublitz
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uoregon.edu/oai:scholarsbank.uoregon.edu:1794/10154 |
| Date | 12 1900 |
| Creators | Letaw, Alathea Diana, 1984- |
| Publisher | University of Oregon |
| Source Sets | University of Oregon |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Relation | University of Oregon theses, Dept. of Biology, M.S., 2009; |
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