Document Type
Thesis
Degree
Master of Science (MS)
Major/Program
Biology
First Advisor's Name
Heather Bracken-Grissom
First Advisor's Committee Title
Committee chair
Second Advisor's Name
Timothy Collins
Second Advisor's Committee Title
Committee member
Third Advisor's Name
Sara Casado Zapico
Third Advisor's Committee Title
Committee member
Keywords
biodiversity, evolution, marine biology, other genetics and genomics
Date of Defense
7-12-2022
Abstract
Infraorder Brachyura, commonly known as the true crabs, is a highly diverse clade comprising over half of all estimated decapod crustaceans. Despite the importance of the clade both ecologically and economically, the brachyuran Tree of Life is still poorly understood, with uncertain relationships among the clades. Brachyurans have also invaded into both freshwater and terrestrial habitats, but the exact number of times this invasion has occurred is uncertain. This study seeks to utilize nine different genes (12S, 16S, 18S, 28S, Enolase, GADPH, H3, NAK & PEPCK) to create the most robust phylogenetic tree to date in order recover support for new taxonomic relationships as well as to use this phylogenetic tree to reconstruct ancestral states in order to determine the history of invasion of new habitats in brachyurans. Several new relationships and clades were recovered with the construction of this phylogeny; however, uncertainties concerning the shallower relationships within the tree remain. Based on the tree derived from this study, I inferred that freshwater invasions occurred as many as 8 times and terrestrial invasions have occurred as few as 7 times.
Identifier
FIDC010992
Recommended Citation
Nickell, Zachary, "Phylogenetic Relationships and Invasion into Freshwater and Terrestrial Habitats by True Crabs" (2022). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 5232.
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/5232
Included in
Biodiversity Commons, Evolution Commons, Marine Biology Commons, Other Genetics and Genomics Commons
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