Effects of geographic range variation: Lessons from the post-glacial geographic range expansion on the morphology, development and competitive interactions of the American toad (Anaxyrus americanus)
Bibliographic record
Abstract
One of the fundamental goals in ecology is to explain the variation in species richness and distribution across the planet, and in the geographic range size of individual species. Within the context of species’ geographic ranges, there are two principle aspects: the potential and realized range, which can be affected by such abiotic and biotic limitations to expansion as geophysical barriers, environmental limitations and competitive exclusion. Herein, I performed a review and analysis of post-glacial range expansions of herpetofaunal species across Canada to ascertain general patterns in the geophysical barriers that these species encountered that may be directing their range expansion. I used a simulation model to explore how differences in behaviour of closely related species may be a driving factor in competition and hybridization where their ranges meet. Furthermore, I examined how a large heterogeneous geographic range affects the evolution of a species. I did a detailed survey of variation in the morphological traits within and between mature adults in populations of the American Toad (Anaxyrus americanus). I also performed a common garden experiment with American Toad tadpoles and found evidence of physiological adaptations for local climate between populations separated by vast geographic distances. Overall, my thesis provides empirical evidence of possible local variation within an amphibian species with a very large latitudinal and geographic range and how a single species expresses significant variation in its morphology and physiological response to latitude as a proxy for environmental variation.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.001 | 0.003 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.003 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.002 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.001 | 0.002 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".