DAPHNE J. FAIRBAIRN
Professor of Biology
Office 3310 Spieth Hall
Phone (951) 827-4791
E-mail: daphne.fairbairn@ucr.edu
Degree:
Ph.D., University of British Columbia
Dr. Fairbairn is an evolutionary
biologist with wide-ranging expertise in quantitative genetics, migration,
natural selection, and sexual selection and sexual dimorphism in size and morphology.
Her work is based strongly on empirical studies (although there is a robust
theoretical component) and includes organisms ranging from insects to mice
and fish. Much of her recent research -- particularly on sexual selection --
has focused on a group of semi-aquatic insects, the water striders. Selection
on sexual behavior is of critical importance to evolution, since it often directly
impacts fitness (reproductive success); hence it has been intensively studied
by evolutionary biologists. Water striders have a complex and varied life history,
with considerable diversity within and between species in size, morphology,
dispersal patterns, and mating behaviors. Since wild populations -- as well
as individuals -- can be monitored and experimentally manipulated, and because
they are also amenable to laboratory culture and study, they offer an exceptionally
good model system for testing evolutionary models.
Dr. Fairbairn's work has emphasized the influence of constraints on response
to selection arising from lack of genetic variation (low heritability) and
genetic correlations for size among body components and between sexes.
Her interest in size dimorphisms has led to intensive studies of mating behavior
and conflicts of interest between the sexes, which may exert strong selection
on body morphology in both males and females. This research extends into behavioral
ecology, reproductive physiology, and adaptive genital morphology.
Another current area of research is the interaction of selection and constraint
in the evolution of migratory polymorphisms in insects (wing morphology,
flight muscle development, and behavioral responses). This research is
done in collaboration
with Dr. Derek Roff, primarily using crickets as the model system.
Dr. Fairbairn comes to us from a faculty position at Concordia University, Canada. She began her work at UCR in July 2001 and participates in the Evolutionary Biology graduate track and the Intercampus Research Program on Experimental Evolution (UCIRPEE).
Selected publications...
Sexual size dimorphism and sexual selection:
Fairbairn, D. J. 1990. Factors influencing sexual size dimorphism in the temperate
Gerrinae. American Naturalist 136: 61-86.
Fairbairn, D. J. and R. F. Preziosi, 1994. Sexual selection and the evolution
of allometry for sexual size dimorphism in the waterstrider, Aquarius remigis.
American Naturalist 144:101-118.
Weigensberg, I. and D. J. Fairbairn, 1994. Conflicts of interest between the
sexes: a study of mating interactions in a semiaquatic bug. Animal Behaviour
48:893-901.
Fairbairn, D. J. and R. F. Preziosi, 1996. Sexual selection and the evolution
of sexual dimorphism in the waterstrider, Aquarius remigis. Evolution 50:1549-1559.
Fairbairn, D. J. 1997. Allometry for sexual size dimorphism: Pattern and process
in the coevolution of body size in males and females. Annual Review of Ecology
and Systematics 28: 659-687.
Preziosi, R. F. and D. J. Fairbairn. 2000. Lifetime selection on adult body
size and components of body size in a waterstrider: opposing selection and
maintenance of sexual size dimorphism. Evolution 54: 558-566.
Reeve, J. P. and D. J. Fairbairn. 2001. Predicting the evolution of sexual
size dimorphism. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 14: 244-254.
Fairbairn, D. J. and A. E. Wilby. 2001. Inequality of opportunity: measuring
the potential for sexual selection. Evolutionary Ecology Research 3: 667-686.
Fairbairn, D. J., Vermette, R., Kapoor, N. N. and N. Zahiri. 2003. Functional
significance of sexually selected genitalia in the water strider, Aquarius
remigis. Canadian Journal of Zoology 81: 400-413.
Bertin, A. and D. J. Fairbairn. 2005. One tool, many uses: precopulatory sexual
selection on genital morphology in Aquarius remigis. Journal of Evolutionary
Biology 18:949-962
Fairbairn, D. J. 2005. Allometry for sexual size dimorphism: Testing two hypotheses
for Rensch’s rule in the water strider, Aquarius remigis. American Naturalist
166: S69-S84.
Fairbairn, D. J. and D. A. Roff. 2006. The quantitative genetics of sexual
dimorphism: assessing the importance of sex-linkage. Heredity (online, August
2006)
On migratory polymorphisms:
Fairbairn, D. J. and D. A. Roff, 1990. Genetic correlations among traits determining
migratory tendency in the sand cricket, Gryllus firmus. Evolution 44: 1787-1795.
Roff, D. A. and D. J. Fairbairn, 1991. Wing dimorphisms and the evolution of
migratory polymorphisms among the Insecta. American Zoologist 31: 243-251.
Fairbairn, D. J. 1994. Wing dimorphism and the migratory syndrome: correlated
traits for dispersal tendency in wing dimorphic insects. Researches in Population
Ecology 36:157-163.
Fairbairn, D. J. and D. E. Yadlowski, 1997. Coevolution of traits determining
migratory tendency: correlated response of a critical enzyme, juvenile hormone
esterase, to selection on wing morphology. Journal of Evolutionary Biology
10: 495-513.
Roff, D. A., J. Tucker, G. Stirling, and D. J. Fairbairn, 1999. The evolution
of threshold traits: effects of selection on fecundity and correlated response
in wing dimorphism in the sand cricket. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 12:
535-546.
Stirling, G., D. A. Roff, and D. J. Fairbairn. 1999. Four characters in a trade-off:
Dissecting their phenotypic and genetic relations. Oecologia 120: 492-498.
Roff, D. A. and D. J. Fairbairn. 1999. Predicting correlated responses in natural
populations: changes in JHE activity in the Bermuda population of the sand
cricket. Heredity 83: 440-450.
Roff, D. A. and D. J. Fairbairn. 2001. The genetic basis of migration and its
consequences for the evolution of correlated traits. Pp. 191-202 in C. Clobert,
J. Nichols, J. D. Danchin and A. Dhondt (eds.), Causes, Consequences and Mechanisms
of Dispersal at the Individual, Population and Community Level. Oxford University
Press, Oxford UK.
Stirling, G., D. J. Fairbairn, S. Jensen and D. A. Roff. 2001. Does a negative
genetic correlation between wing morph and early fecundity imply a functional
constraint in Gryllus firmus? Evolutionary Ecology Research 3: 157-177.
Roff, D. A., Crnokrak, P. and D. J. Fairbairn. 2003. The evolution of trade-offs:
geographic variation in call duration in the sand cricket, Gryllus firmus.
Journal of Evolutionary Biology 16: 744-753.
Click here to see a complete publication list.