Keywords

Ecological differentiation, microbial community, mosaic evolution

Abstract

The spotted bird grasshopper, Schistocerca lineata Scudder (Orthoptera: Acrididae), is a widely distributed species found throughout most of the continental United States and southern Canada. This species is known to be highly variable in morphology, with many distinct ecotypes across its native range. These ecotypes display high levels of association with type-specific host plants. Understanding the evolutionary relationships among different ecotypes is crucial groundwork for studying the process of ecological differentiation. I examine four ecotypes from morphological and phylogeographic perspectives, and look for evidence of distinct evolutionary lineages within the species. I also begin to explore the potential role of the microbial community of these grasshoppers in ecological divergence by using 454 pyrosequencing to see if the microbial community structure reflects the ecology of the grasshoppers. I find support for a distinct aposematic lineage when approaching the data from a phylogeographic perspective and also find that this ecotype tends to harbor a unique bacterial community, different from that of a single other ecotype.

Notes

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Graduation Date

2014

Semester

Spring

Advisor

Song, Hojun

Degree

Master of Science (M.S.)

College

College of Sciences

Department

Biology

Degree Program

Biology

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0005540

URL

http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0005540

Language

English

Release Date

November 2014

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Masters Thesis (Open Access)

Subjects

Dissertations, Academic -- Sciences; Sciences -- Dissertations, Academic

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Included in

Biology Commons

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