Personal profile
About
Darwin’s “applied to the family” hypothesis spawned a number of models that attempted to explain the evolution of altruistic offspring including kin selection, reproductive skew and bet-hedging models. The unspoken assumption central to these models was that offspring were initially created equal; differences in the fertility of adults emerge from transactions such as altruistic “giving,” or coercive “taking” Dr. Cassill has developed a maternal investment model that departs from an assumption of offspring equality and instead proceeds with an assumption of offspring inequality. In short, right from the beginning, “Moms don’t pack their kids’ lunch boxes equally,” (M. Ghiselin, personal communication). An assumption of inequality alters the solution to the enigma of Darwin’s altruistic “neuters” from a moral question, “Why do some offspring give up their reproductive rights?” to a risk- management question, “In risky environments, how many disposable spares must a matriarch invest in to ensure the survival of two sexually mature heirs, one to replace her and one to replace her mate?” Currently, Dr. Cassill’s research is focused on gathering field data to test the assumptions and predictions of her maternal risk-management model on the evolution of diversity “within” species from bacteria to mammals.
Education/Academic qualification
Biology, Ph.D., Florida State University
Biology, M.S., Florida State University
Biology, B.S., Florida State University
B.A., University of Iowa
M.P.A., University of West Florida
Disciplines
- Biology
- Behavior and Ethology
- Entomology
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Can Reptiles Use Nest Site Choice Behavior to Counter Global Warming Effects on Developing Embryos? Potential Climate Responses in a Turtle
Sullivan, S., Heinrich, G. L., Mattheus, N. M., Cassill, D. L. & Doody, J. S., Jan 1 2022, In: Default journal.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Evaluating prevalence of external injuries on nesting loggerhead sea turtles Caretta caretta in southeastern Florida, USA
Ataman, A., Gainsbury, A. M., Manire, C. A., Hoffmann, S. L., Page-Karjian, A., Hirsch, S. E., Polyak, M. M. R., Cassill, D. L., Aoki, D. M., Fraser, K. M., Klingshirn, S., Stoll, J. A. & Perrault, J. R., Jan 1 2021, In: Default journal.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Extending r/K selection with a maternal risk-management model that classifies animal species into divergent natural selection categories
Cassill, D. L., Jan 1 2019, In: Default journal.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Virus discovery in all three major lineages of terrestrial arthropods highlights the diversity of single-stranded DNA viruses associated with invertebrates
Rosario, K., Mettel, K. A., Benner, B. E., Johnson, R., Scott, C., Yusseff-Venegas, S. Z., Baker, C. C. M., Cassill, D. L., Storer, C., Varsani, A. & Breitbart, M., Jan 1 2018, In: Default journal.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Virus Discovery in All Three Major Lineages of Terrestrial Arthropods Highlights the Diversity of Single-stranded DNA Viruses Associated with Invertebrates
Rosario, K., Mettel, K., Benner, B., Johnson, R., Scott, C., Yusseff-Vanegas, S., Baker, C., Cassill, D., Storer, C., Varsani, A. & Breitbart, M., Dec 31 2017, In: PeerJ. 6Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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