Local adaptation has been a major focus of evolutionary ecologists working across diverse systems for decades. However, little of this research has explored variation at microgeographic scales because it has often been assumed that high rates of gene flow will prevent adaptive divergence at fine spatial scales. Here, we establish a quantitative definition of microgeographic adaptation based on ...

Despite being equipped with low-resolution eyes and tiny brains, many insects show exquisite abilities to detect and pursue targets even in highly textured surrounds. Target tracking behavior is subserved by neurons that are sharply tuned to the motion of small high-contrast targets. These neurons respond robustly to target motion, even against self-generated optic flow. A recent model, support...

Movements of organisms between habitat remnants can affect metapopulation structure, community assembly dynamics, gene flow and conservation strategy. In the tropical landscapes that support the majority of global biodiversity and where forest fragmentation is accelerating, there is particular urgency to understand how dispersal across habitats mediates the demography, distribution and differen...

Many larvae and other plankton have complex and variable morphologies of unknown functional significance. We experimentally and theoretically investigated the functional consequences of the complex morphologies of larval sand dollars, Dendraster excentricus (Eschscholtz), for hydrodynamic interactions between swimming and turbulent water motion. Vertical shearing flows (horizontal gradients of ...

Two distinct redistribution grids - adaptation techniques, spring analogy and elliptic grid generator are applied to two-dimensional steady, inviscid, shocked flows, and the ability of each technique is examined and compared. Euler equations are solved base on Roe's Reimann solver approach to simulate supersonic flow around a sphere, transonic flow about an airfoil and supersonic flow in a symm...

Population founding and spatial spread may profoundly influence later population genetic structure, but their effects are difficult to quantify when population history is unknown. We examined the genetic effects of founder group formation in a recently founded population of the animal-dispersed Vaccinium membranaceum (black huckleberry) on new volcanic deposits at Mount St Helens (Washington, U...

Using three dimensional graphics to visualize abstract data presents an interesting challenge because, by definition, there is no physical counterpart to abstract data; its extension into three-space is not due to the fact that it is the natural thing to do. Prior work in using three dimensional graphics to aid abstract data visualization has concentrated on increasing the quantity of data visu...