Variation and Diversification in the Sexual Signals of Spadefoot Toads Public Deposited

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  • March 21, 2019
Creator
  • OBrien, Rebecca
    • Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Biology
Abstract
  • Explaining the origins of diversity is an enduring goal in evolutionary ecology, and in few places is this diversity as striking as in sexual signals. One significant pressure driving signal design is the presence of competitors. These competitors may be either of the same species and competing for resources such as mates, or of different species and competing for other resources such as signal space. In my first chapter, I explore how changes in signal design, driven by reproductive character displacement, can be facilitated by changes in habitat. In my second, I explore the role of signal design in determining facultative signal adjustment in response to interference from competitors. I find that differences in ecoregion can cause variation in reproductive character displacement throughout a range of sympatry, and that signal structure plays an important role in determining how animals facultatively respond to signal interference.
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  • In Copyright
Advisor
  • Pfennig, David
  • Hurlbert, Allen
  • Pfennig, Karin
Degree
  • Master of Science
Degree granting institution
  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Graduate School
Graduation year
  • 2018
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