Title:
Effects of competition, disturbance and productivity on the dynamics of inducible trophic polymorphism in tetrahymena vorax

dc.contributor.advisor Jiang, Lin
dc.contributor.author Yin, Yi
dc.contributor.committeeMember Hay, Mark E.
dc.contributor.committeeMember Mendelson, Joseph R.
dc.contributor.department Biology
dc.date.accessioned 2017-08-17T18:57:23Z
dc.date.available 2017-08-17T18:57:23Z
dc.date.created 2016-08
dc.date.issued 2016-08-01
dc.date.submitted August 2016
dc.date.updated 2017-08-17T18:57:23Z
dc.description.abstract Inducible trophic polymorphism enables organisms to alter their trophic level when facing environmental changes, and therefore can ameliorate the intensity of competition. The freshwater ciliated protist Tetrahymena vorax was found to have three distinct phenotypic morphs with two trophic levels. Its carnivorous macrostomes consume intraspecific competitors and its bacterivorous pyriform microstome morph and tailed microstome morph indiscriminately. Cannibalism here indicates an extreme case of niche differentiation and resource utilization via phenotypic plasticity and significantly affects the dynamic equilibrium of T. vorax’s three morphs. By manipulating productivity level, disturbance frequency and the presence or absence of an interspecific competitor species Colpdium striatum, I demonstrated the dynamic transformations of T. vorax’s three morphs and endeavored to explain the underlying mechanisms. In this study, I also tested some classic assumptions about phenotypic tradeoffs in T. vorax and hence clarified some misunderstandings and proposed novel hypotheses.
dc.description.degree M.S.
dc.format.mimetype application/pdf
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/1853/58602
dc.language.iso en_US
dc.publisher Georgia Institute of Technology
dc.subject Community ecology
dc.subject Inducible trophic polymorphism
dc.subject Tetrahymena vorax
dc.subject Competition
dc.subject Disturbance
dc.subject Productivity
dc.subject Population dynamics
dc.title Effects of competition, disturbance and productivity on the dynamics of inducible trophic polymorphism in tetrahymena vorax
dc.type Text
dc.type.genre Thesis
dspace.entity.type Publication
local.contributor.advisor Jiang, Lin
local.contributor.corporatename College of Sciences
local.contributor.corporatename School of Biological Sciences
relation.isAdvisorOfPublication d02cba61-3c50-441b-b114-f0e37910232c
relation.isOrgUnitOfPublication 85042be6-2d68-4e07-b384-e1f908fae48a
relation.isOrgUnitOfPublication c8b3bd08-9989-40d3-afe3-e0ad8d5c72b5
thesis.degree.level Masters
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