Skip to Main Content
 

Global Search Box

 
 
 
 

Files

File List


SVladimirova_Thesis_Final.pdf (3.64 MB)

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

Thermal adaptation and plasticity in desert horned lizards

Vladimirova, Sarah Ashley Marie
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7630-6247
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1637340577809057

Abstract Details

2021, Master of Science, Miami University, Biology.
Ectotherms can respond to changing climate through behavioral plasticity, physiological plasticity, and adaption. Adaptive versus plastic responses to stimuli can affect gene expression. The desert horned lizard (Phrynosoma platyrhinos) inhabits climatic extremes: the Great Basin Desert where it can get below freezing for half of the year, and the Mojave Desert containing some of the hottest and driest places on Earth. I conducted a common garden experiment by dividing lizards from the Great Basin and Mojave deserts into three groups: cold treatment, hot treatment, and an unstressed group with access to a temperature gradient. After exposure for two weeks, I collected liver and brain tissue for RNA sequencing. Differential gene expression analyses showed that both origin (Great Basin versus Mojave) and treatment (temperature exposure) contributed to overall responses. The presence of genes differentially expressed by both origins in response to thermal stress indicates conserved, plastic responses. Further, a large portion of genes were differentially expressed as population-specific responses to thermal stress, indicative of adaptive mechanisms.
Tereza Jezkova (Advisor)
Paul Schaeffer (Committee Member)
David J. Berg (Committee Member)
Michael O'Connell (Committee Member)
39 p.
Biology
transcriptomics; desert horned lizard; RNA-seq; thermal stress; adaptation; plasticity

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Vladimirova, S. A. M. (2021). Thermal adaptation and plasticity in desert horned lizards [Master's thesis, Miami University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1637340577809057

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Vladimirova, Sarah. Thermal adaptation and plasticity in desert horned lizards. 2021. Miami University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1637340577809057.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Vladimirova, Sarah. "Thermal adaptation and plasticity in desert horned lizards." Master's thesis, Miami University, 2021. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1637340577809057

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

miami1637340577809057
111
© 2021, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Miami University and OhioLINK.