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In the 300 million years since the divergence of anurans and caudates, frogs have come to represent nearly 90% of all amphibians and (with the exception of Antarctica) occupy most of the major landmasses on Earth. The range of ecological specializations and phenotypes characteristic of frogs facilitated their colonization of every major habitat type from deserts to rainforests. Given current global ecological conservation concerns, there is an ever-increasing need to assess the drivers of radiative herpetological diversity in areas of especially high species richness and endemism. One such hotspot of global endemism and diversity is the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. Though the biological significance of Sulawesi taxa was noted by Alfred Russel Wallace as far back as the 1800’s, in recent years, investigators have not only identified a preponderance of new species on Sulawesi, but several assemblages representing remarkable radiations of novel species. Herein, I present research that focuses on a recently discovered Sulawesi radiation: that of the so-called ‘fanged frogs’ of genus Limnonectes. This poorly studied assemblage likely includes ~40 species, though only five of have been formally described due to unresolved degrees of morphological, ecological, and molecular disambiguation across species. Very little is known about Sulawesi fanged frog natural- and life histories; thus, the research presented in this compendium explores the ecological mechanisms that facilitated the Sulawesi Limnonectes radiation in effort to counterbalance the current dearth of baseline knowledge about the species comprising this assemblage. To accomplish this objective, I conducted extensive field work across the island and subsequently amalgamated molecular, morphometric, behavioral, physiological, and ecological research applications to characterize differential niche use, reproductive biology, and lineage divergence. In Chapter 1, I describe and diagnose a new terrestrially-nesting Limnonectes species from South Sulawesi. In Chapter 2, I explore cryptic speciation and highlight the discovery of replicate elevational speciation events in a locally sympatric cohort of fanged frog eco-morphs. In Chapter 3, I characterize the eco-physiological drivers of niche partitioning as they apply to cutaneous water loss, behavioral hydro-regulation, and desiccation tolerance. This body of work advances our understanding of Sulawesi fanged frog natural history and underscores the utility of integrative biological research applications for the purposes of determining the interplay between speciation mechanisms and ecological interactions.

George Frederick Handel is one of the most important composers of oratorio in musical history. Between the year 1704, when he composed his Passion According to Saint John, and 1757, the year of his last oratorio, The Triumph of Time and Truth, Handel composed twenty nine works which have at one time or another been classified as oratorios. Only those works that are considered by all authorities as oratorios and are based on the Old Testament or Jewish history are included in this study. Handel writes solo roles for the tenor voice in all of the sixteen oratorios included in the study with the exception of the revision of Esther and in Deborah. The musical and dramatic function of the tenor solo roles varies with each oratorio. The significance of the tenor roles fluctuates with the dramatic impact of the story related by the oratorio and is completely dictated by it. Handel used all solo voices with concern for the best over all theatrical effect foremost in mind. To place in proper perspective his use of the tenor voice in relation to the other solo voices, such factors as the musical and dramatic importance of the tenor roles, character types portrayed, and the style and ranges of arias, should be considered.