BENTHIC WALKING, CRYPTIC LOCOMOTION, AND EVOLUTIONARY MORPHOLOGY OF BODY FORM IN FLATFISHES (PLEURONECTIFORMES)
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Flatfishes (Pleuronectiformes) are an ecologically and economically important group of benthic predators with unique adaptations to life on the bottom. Flatfishes’ key innovations—eye-migration and lateralized behavior —result in evolutionary constraints as well as novel opportunities for this group (Chapter 1). How does an organism find food and evade predators when it is lying on one side? Using kinematic and comparative analyses (Chapter 2) I show that flatfishes use a mode of locomotion that is structurally and functionally unique amongst vertebrates, in which successive portions of median fins are co-opted to form functional “feet” that push against the substrate. This unusual form of locomotion allows the flatfish to maneuver, forage, and traverse across the substrate at slow to moderate speeds while maintaining a low profile. Using Digital Particle Image Velocimetry (Chapter 3) I measured the velocity magnitude and vorticity of water flow around walking and swimming flatfishes. I found that water disturbance was much lower during walking, without the trailing vortices produced during swimming, suggesting that benthic walking in flatfishes is hydrodynamically cryptic. To better understand the evolutionary morphology of this large and diverse group I analyzed body and fin shapes of 67 species from 12 flatfish families using geometric morphometric and phylogenetic methods (Chapter 1). Lastly, in fulfillment of my NSF Graduate Research Fellowship in K-12 STEM Education, I evaluated the impact of a new mobile science program using a combination of survey and interview methods (Chapter 4).
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192 pages
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2020-12
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Benthic Walking; Crypsis; Locomotion; Mobile Science; Pleuronectiformes
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Bemis, Willy
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Dillman, Casey Brandon
McCune, Amy R.
Hermanson, John W.
McCune, Amy R.
Hermanson, John W.
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Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
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Ph. D., Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
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Doctor of Philosophy
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dissertation or thesis