Theses and dissertations

This collection includes both ASU Theses and Dissertations, submitted by graduate students, and the Barrett, Honors College theses submitted by undergraduate students. 

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Variation in reflective flow and forager navigation, but not traffic rate, explain speed of obstruction circumnavigation on Atta colombica foraging trails

Description
Many species follow networked roads. When roads are blocked, the obstruction must be circumnavigated, or traffic rerouted. We obstructed trails of the leaf-cutting ant Atta colombica and compared individual- and group-level circumnavigation as well as trail reuse following obstruction removal. Groups that circumnavigated the obstruction fastest were also the first…

Many species follow networked roads. When roads are blocked, the obstruction must be circumnavigated, or traffic rerouted. We obstructed trails of the leaf-cutting ant Atta colombica and compared individual- and group-level circumnavigation as well as trail reuse following obstruction removal. Groups that circumnavigated the obstruction fastest were also the first to return to the original trail once the obstruction was removed. Also, nestward ants returned to using the original trail more quickly than outbound ants. Traffic rate was not related to speed of obstacle solving. The magnitude of reflective flow (reversing direction) explained much of the variation in obstacle-solving time, both comparing nestward versus outbound ants and variation across obstacles. Two other factors explaining variation in obstacle circumnavigation times were percentage of nestward ants carrying leaves and whether ants searched in the appropriate direction for the trail beyond the obstruction, possibly due to variation in the availability of navigation cues or motivation. Reflective flow allows highly-networked leafcutter trails to respond to blockages by using alternative cleared routes, with strength of navigation cues and motivation linked to foraging costs and benefits likely determining the effort expended to “solve” the obstacle versus give up.
ContributorsPrendergast, Catherine T (Author) / Harrison, Jon F. (Thesis director) / Baudier, Kaitlin M. (Committee member) / Economics Program in CLAS (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
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Genetic and Environmental Contributions to the Relation Between Parenting and Child Psychopathology

Description

Prior research has established a relation between parenting behaviors and symptoms of child psychopathology, and this association may be influenced by both genetic and environmental factors. Gene-environment correlation, or the influence of a child’s genes on the environment they receive, represents one possible mechanism through which genes and environment combine…

Prior research has established a relation between parenting behaviors and symptoms of child psychopathology, and this association may be influenced by both genetic and environmental factors. Gene-environment correlation, or the influence of a child’s genes on the environment they receive, represents one possible mechanism through which genes and environment combine to influence child outcomes. This study examined evocative gene-environment correlation in the relation between parenting and symptoms of child psychopathology in a sample of 676 twins (51.5% female, 58.5% Caucasian, 23.7% Hispanic/Latinx, primarily middle class, MAge=8.43, SD=.62) recruited from Arizona birth records. Using univariate ACE twin biometric models, genetic influences were found to moderately contribute to internalizing symptoms (A=.47, C=.25, E=.28), while externalizing (A=.86, E=.14) and ADHD (A=.84, E=.16) symptoms were found to be highly heritable. The genetic influences for positive (C=.54, E=.46) and negative (C=.44, E=.56) parenting were smaller and found to be nonsignificant. The correlations between parenting and types of psychopathology were examined and bivariate Cholesky decompositions were conducted for statistically significant correlations. Negative parenting was moderately positively correlated with externalizing and ADHD symptoms; the relation between externalizing symptoms and negative parenting was found to be due to shared genetics, whereas the relation between negative parenting and ADHD symptoms was due to the shared environment. The mixed results regarding the role of gene environment correlation in relations between parenting and child psychopathology indicate that further research on the mechanisms of this relation is needed.
ContributorsCarrizosa, Mya Grace (Author) / Lemery-Chalfant, Kathryn (Thesis director) / Corbin, William (Committee member) / Davis, Mary (Committee member) / Oro, Veronica (Committee member) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Economics Program in CLAS (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05