Department of Biology Graduate Theses
Recent Submissions
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Efficacy of recreational watercraft decontamination practices to prevent the spread of aquatic invasive species.
The spread of aquatic invasive species (AIS) is a threat to the biodiversity and ecosystem services of invaded environments, and human activities largely facilitate their dissemination. Recreational boating activities ... -
Assessing the biotic and abiotic factors influencing the distribution and intensity of cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms in Dog Lake, South Frontenac using UAV imaging and eDNA
Cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (CHABs) deteriorate water quality and cause widespread economic and ecological damage to aquatic ecosystems. Efforts in mitigating and monitoring CHABs face challenges from their complex ... -
Thermal Ecology and Plasticity in the Burying Beetle, Nicrophorus orbicollis: An Observational Field Study
Environmental temperatures are among the most significant factors affecting the ecology, behaviour, and evolution of organisms across all levels of biological organization. As such, understanding the impacts that natural ... -
The role of interference versus exploitative competition in shaping life histories of the smaller tea tortrix
Intraspecific competition is ubiquitous in nature and can fundamentally shape the individual life history. Competition occurs, and consequently influences life-history traits, through the direct effects of interference and ... -
The response of Cladocera assemblages and size structure to multiple stressors in three Kawartha lakes (Ontario) over the last 200 years)
The Kawartha lakes region has experienced many impacts from human activities since the European settlement in early 1800s including damming, logging, agricultural activities, fisheries, urbanization, and the introduction ... -
A BROAD SCALE INVESTIGATION OF DISPERSAL CONSTRAINTS ON THE NORTHERN RANGE LIMIT OF A PACIFIC COASTAL DUNE PLANT
Species are expected to occur and persist where environments allow for population self-replacement, and be limited where biotic and abiotic conditions shift outside their recognized niche. However, many species lack the ... -
EVOLUTION OF DEVELOPMENT AND GENE EXPRESSION IN DROSOPHILA
Evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo) is the study of trait evolution through variation in development. As early as the modern synthesis, it was recognized that to an understanding of the function of genes during ... -
Response of cladocerans to native and invasive invertebrate predators in Lake Simcoe, Canada
How populations respond to changing environmental conditions is critical to their survival. Organisms can respond adaptively to new environmental conditions, for example an invasive predator, by the expression of phenotypic ... -
Investigating Long-term Environmental Trends in Central Ontario Lakes Impacted by Cyanobacterial Blooms
Cyanobacterial blooms degrade water quality by increasing turbidity, causing taste and odour problems, depleting deep-water oxygen concentrations, and producing toxins – all of which can alter aquatic food webs, and ... -
Population genetic differentiation and hybridization in the Glaucous Gull (Larus hyperboreus)
Climate change poses a significant threat to the future of Arctic ecosystems. To effectively conserve Arctic species, genetically differentiated populations must be defined for adaptive and neutral genetic variation to be ... -
Investigating ubiquitin-mediated turnover of the key immune signaling protein kinase BOTRYTIS INDUCED KINASE1
Plants are susceptible to infection from bacterial, fungal, and viral diseases; although sessile, they are far from defenseless. Plants have evolved complex immune systems for the detection of pathogens and initiation of ... -
ECOLOGICAL INSIGHTS FROM δ18O AND δ13C OF AMERICAN EEL ANGUILLA ROSTRATA OTOLITHS — A COMBINATION OF LABORATORY AND FIELD APPROACHES
Fish species with complex life cycles, extensive migrations, or broad distributional ranges, such as the American eel, Anguilla rostrata, commonly have poorly understood ecologies because of a lack of information about ... -
PLASTICITY AND EVOLUTIONARY POTENTIAL OF ALLIARIA PETIOLATA LIFE HISTORY AND LEAF CHEMISTRY TRAITS IN DIFFERENT COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENTS
Alliaria petiolata is an invasive biennial herb in North America where it has detrimental impacts on flora and fauna. Allelopathy, the chemical inhibition of plant competitors, is one explanation for why A. petiolata is ... -
Evaluating conservation strategies for a threatened population of gray ratsnakes (Pantherophis spiloides)
Wildlife populations across the globe are declining due to the effects of increasing anthropogenic activities. Among the most vulnerable taxa are snakes, which face several threats including road mortality and habitat loss. ... -
DNA Polymerization in Microgravity and the Future of Human Space Travel
The coming decades will represent a quantum leap in the field of crewed space travel, with planned missions back to the Moon, forward to Mars, and possibly beyond. The substantial biological threats of long-term space ... -
EXAMINING THE LONG-TERM ECOLOGICAL CONSEQUENCES OF GOLD MINING OPERATIONS, URBANIZATION, AND CLIMATIC CHANGES ON SUB-ARCTIC LAKES NEAR YELLOWKNIFE (NORTHWEST TERRITORIES, CANADA) USING DIATOMS AS PALEOENVIRONMENTAL INDICATORS
The mineral resource potential of Canada’s North has been recognized since the early 20th century with mines operating across all three territories. However, the long-term biological consequences of Northern mining operations ... -
ON THE APPLICATION OF THE THEORY OF ISLAND BIOGEOGRAPHY AND ITS MODERN EXTENSIONS TO SUBMARINE BANK COMMUNITIES
This thesis explores the application of a traditionally terrestrial-based ecological theory, the Theory of Island Biogeography (TIB), to a large marine ecosystem. Decades of testing of this theory have led to various ... -
Initial characterization of a subgroup of Arabidopsis group VIII receptor-like cytoplasmic kinases in immune and flowering time pathways
In order to defend against disease, plants have evolved a tightly coordinated signaling network to rapidly prevent the spread of infection. Given the severity of yearly crop loss to pathogen threats, further understanding ... -
Changes in climate and catchment processes over the middle and late Holocene in the boreal region of northeastern Ontario, Canada
The climate of North America has varied substantially over the Holocene. Holocene Thermal Maximum (HTM) warmth occurred earlier in the west with associated aridity, compared to the east which was humid. Specific regions ... -
Direct and indirect effects of host food quality on host life history, host susceptibility to parasitism, and parasitoid life history
Ecological communities are complex, comprising species and environmental factors that are so entangled in their effects on one another that ecologists and evolutionary biologists will forever be mystified by how they are ...
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