J.L. Gittleman's research while affiliated with University of Georgia and other places

... With this, we test hypotheses regarding the evolution and assembly of Poales in open and closed habitats throughout the world, analyse the impact of evolutionary history on phylogenetic regionalisation and examine whether diversification patterns demonstrate parallel or divergent evolution. Spatial phylogenetic analyses (Mishler et al., 2014) are increasingly used to evaluate the geographic structure of lineage assembly (Holt et al., 2013;Thornhill et al., 2016;Zhang et al., 2022), to link evolutionary processes to the manifestation of biodiversity through time and space (Carter et al., 2022;Nitta et al., 2022;Sanbonmatsu & Spalink, 2022), and for the development of conservation policies (Sechrest et al., 2002;Gonzalez-Orozco et al., 2016;Zhang et al., 2021). While many spatial phylogenetic metrics exist, emerging methods can identify hotspots of remarkable phylogenetic diversity and distinguish between areas of significant palaeo-and neo-endemism (Mishler et al., 2014). ...

... The populations and geographic ranges of large mammalian carnivores are declining worldwide due to multiple, and sometimes concurring, human threats, including habitat loss and fragmentation, overexploitation, persecution, and prey depletion (Ripple et al., 2014). Slow life histories, wide-ranging behavior, low population densities, and high energetic constraints make these large carnivores or top predators more vulnerable to anthropogenic influences (Cardillo et al., 2004). Mesopredators, that is, mid-ranking predators in a food chain (Prugh et al., 2009), however, are likely to benefit from humans owing to their opportunistic behavior which helps them acquire provisioned food resources in the form of garbage, crops, agriculture pests, etc. (Crooks & Soule, 1999;Wangchuk, 2004). ...

... These terms are preferable to "female dominance" and "male dominance" because they allow for the broad range of possible power asymmetries [5].) Often overlooked, however, is that research on mammals is biased towards larger taxa [8,25], and sex-biased power structures are not present in all mammals [8], such as when taxa are not social or because they exhibit co-dominance (i.e., the power structure is not clearly biased towards one sex (for review of definitions: [5])). The prevalence of female-biased power structures in the lemuriform primates is unusual [26] and has sparked extensive debate (for review: [5]), with some authors suggesting that female-biased power is a trait that evolved in their last common ancestor [26,27]. ...

... We see the primary use of the supertree derived in the present paper, as for other supertrees, in providing phylogenetic information for cross-species studies in evolutionary ecology [e.g. [62][63][64] and potentially in a wide array of other fields within comparative biology [34,65], or for instance in ecological studies using phylogenetically weighted diversity indices [66,67]. The tree can be used for planning research, both when designing how to sample study species across the phylogeny, and when evaluating the availability of phylogenetic information necessary for the research planned. ...

... USNM 619520 has substantially more robust premolars than is seen in the holotype (width of p3 is 5.16 mm vs 3.95 mm in the holotype, i.e., 31% larger). Given the limited sample size, we treat such a robust individual as variation within species, as arctoids are known to be sexually dimorphic (Gittleman and Van Valkenburgh, 1997). However, since the holotype of Eoarctos vorax is known to be a male with a baculum, USNM 619520, if we assume it to be a male as well, seems to show far more variation than similar sized canids with typical dimorphism by ∼5% in dental measurements throughout its evolutionary history (Wang, 1994;Wang et al., 1999;Tedford et al., 2009). ...

... Carnivores play an important ecological role; these can belong to many trophic levels due to their variance in size, their separation between temporal and spatial niches, and their food habits [6,7]. Their presence and population conditions represent valuable ecological metrics because this is a group indicator of the conservation status in different ecosystems. ...

... We built a phylogenetic tree with the species of bats used in this study, using data from the literature, including molecular data and fossil records [36][37][38][39][40][41][42] (Figure 2). Branch lengths were estimated from divergence times found in the literature and using the Timetree of Life [43]. ...

... However, coatis also inhabit tropical dry forest in western Mexico , and temperate riparian or oak woodland at the northern edge of their range in southeastern Arizona (Ratnayeke et al. 1994;Hass 2002). Among populations, band and home range sizes can differ by an order of magnitude (Gompper 1995), and differences also are reported in patterns of association among males, and between males and female bands (Gompper and Krinsley 1992;Booth-Binczik et al. 2004;Hirsch and Gompper in press). ...

... Climate and land use change have been recognized as two most dominant drivers of global biodiversity changes (Pimm et al., 2014;Newbold, 2018). Anticipating the consequences of rapid change of these two drivers for biodiversity has therefore become an urgent and important issue in ecology, biogeography and conservation biology (Coreau et al., 2009;Maggini et al., 2014). ...

... 44 Other issues that the CPHA analyzed during this period included venereal disease control/prevention and the need for sexual hygiene education programs for children and their parents, sanitation in public schools, and the strengthening of provincial health legislation. 45 The organization grew rapidly during its first five years, and was marked by intense activity in the development of Canada's public health infrastructure. 46 The CPHA struggled to maintain its membership as the First World War began. ...