Theodore Garland, Jr. Professor of Biology Ph.D.,
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Prospective graduate students should send me a letter of inquiry (email is fine) indicating their areas of interest and describing their previous research or other relevant experience. Please also indicate your grade-point average and G.R.E. scores (if available). Although I am well aware that these are not necessarily good indicators of the likelihood of success in graduate school, they are important in campus-wide competitions for fellowships and so forth. In addition, you may want to read these essays by Stephen C. Stearns (1987, Bull. Ecol. Soc. Amer. 68:145-150), Raymond B. Huey (1987, Bull. Ecol. Soc. Amer. 68:150-153), Brian W. Witz (1994, Bull. Ecol. Soc. Amer. 75:176-177), and Dan Binkley (1988. Some advice for graduate advisors. Bull. Ecol. Soc. Amer. 69:10-13 [I don't have a PDF of that one, but here is another from his web) as well as these by Massimo Pigliucci on how to choose a PhD project and a checklist for graduate students.
My graduate students and I participate
in both the Evolutionary Biology
and the Physiology tracks
within the Department of Biology, as well as the Evolution
and Ecology Graduate Research Unit, the Genetics,
Genomics & Bioinformatics Graduate Program, the Graduate
Program in Biomedical Sciences, and the Network for Experimental Research
on Evolution (NERE), a University
of California Multicampus Research Project.
Work in our laboratory is aimed primarily at understanding the evolution
of complex phenotypes. Through empirical, theoretical, and
methodological studies, we are also helping to found the new field of evolutionary
physiology (e.g., see Annual Review of Physiology, 1994, 56:579-621
[PDF
file - large]; Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 2000, 31:315-341).
Comparative physiology and physiological ecology have developed as fields with
great interest in how and why phenotypic diversity has evolved. Many
studies in these fields, however, have been conducted with less than state-of-the-art
approaches and analytical techniques in terms of evolutionary biology (e.g.,
two-species comparative studies, lack of common-garden controls). As
well, evolutionary biologists have rarely worked with physiological traits,
largely
because of logistical problems (e.g., metabolic rates cannot be measured on
museum specimens).
My research program, therefore, focuses
on the evolution of physiological systems, as well as their phenotypic
plasticity. As physiology cannot properly be understood in isolation
from behavior, biochemistry, and morphology, my general approach is integrative
and collaborative, and crosses traditional boundaries between disciplines.
Our laboratory is equipped to make a variety of sophisticated whole-animal physiological
and behavioral measurements. We have concentrated on locomotion
and activity metabolism (exercise physiology) because many natural behaviors
(e.g., escaping from predators, foraging)
depend crucially on capacities for locomotion. In addition, physical activity
itself can have a variety of effects on behavior and physiology (e.g., training).
We emphasize two complementary approaches,
quantitative genetic and comparative. The former allows both predictions
of short-term responses to hypothetical selection pressures and tests in real
time via laboratory selection experiments (one type of experimental
evolution).
Comparative studies, on the other hand, allow quantification of what actually
has happened in a given group of organisms over evolutionary time.
I have worked primarily on lizards,
snakes, and small mammals (plus the occasional cow).
However, I recognize the value of "model systems" of all types, and am always
amenable to work with other organisms. For example, I am currently a co-PI
on an NSF
grant with David
Reznick and Mark
Springer to study the evolution of placentas and other life history
traits in poecilid fishes. Chris
Oufiero, a current Ph.D. study, is beginning comparative studies of locomotor
performance in relation to sexual selection in this group.
Although most of the work in our lab has involved exercise physiology and locomotor behavior, graduate students have worked on a diversity of other projects, including:
1. Selective Breeding for High
Voluntary Wheel Running. Publications
to date.
From a base population of randombred Hsd:ICR
house mice, we have undertaken an artificial
selection experiment to increase levels of voluntary wheel-running
behavior. This project, funded by the National Science Foundation
and the National Institutes of Health, allows direct tests of the long-standing
idea that behavior evolves "first." We are now (Feb. 2004) in generation
37. As wheel running has evolved, mainly by increased running speed
(movie), we have tested for correlated responses
in a series of continuous-valued, polygenic traits (e.g., body mass, litter
size, open-field behavior, sprint
running speed on a photocell-timed racetrack,
endurance, maximal oxygen consumption, basal
metabolic rate, hematocrit, hemoglobin, heart mass, gastrocnemius muscle
mass, liver mass, corticosterone and thyroid hormone levels, activities
of aerobic and anaerobic indicator enzymes). Although our main focus
has been understanding how exercise physiology evolves in concert with
voluntary activity levels, this experiment has virtually limitless potential
to uncover relationships among different aspects of behavior. For
example, we have also examined nesting and parental-care behavior, resident-intruder
and predatory aggression, and learning. We are exploring brain structure
and function through pharmacological and neuroanatomical studies.
Our results indicate alterations of dopamine in the selected lines, which
may render them a useful model for studies of human attention-deficit hyperactivity
disorder (ADHD).
This has always been a collaborative
project (Pat,
Ted, John in 1995) and because of the range of possible correlated
responses that we anticipate may occur, we work with various laboratories,
including several at other universities. Off-campus collaborators
include Drs. Patrick A. Carter
(Washington State Univ.: aging), Gary
M. Diffee (Univ. of Wisconsin: muscle biology), Patricia A. Freeman
(Univ. of Nebraska: skeletal
morphometrics), Sharon
M. Swartz (Brown Univ.: bone properties), Stephen
C. Gammie (Univ. of Wisconsin: neurobiology), Helga
Guderley (Laval Univ., Quebec: metabolic biochemistry), David
J. Paterson (Oxford Univ.: cardiovascular physiology, magnetic
resonance imaging), Steven
F. Perry (Univ. of Bonn: electron microscopy to quantify lung
untrastructure); Douglas
A. Syme and Russell
T. Hepple (Univ. of Calgary: muscle properties).
(We have even found a radio station that may
be interested in sponsoring our work.)
We are also exploring the
relative magnitude of the effects of the genetic
selection that we have imposed ("nature") as compared with phenotypic
plasticity that occurs ontogenetically when mice have access to running
wheels and can self-train ("nurture"). A
related question is whether mice from selected lines may have reduced or
enhanced "trainability," which would constitute a genotype-by-environment
interaction. For these experiments, we often house mice either with
or without wheel access.
2. Phylogenetically Based Statistical Methods (comparative methods). Phylogenies are essential for understanding the origin and maintenance of biological diversity, such as the origin of endothermy in vertebrates. We seek to promote the use of rigorous phylogenetic methods by developing and testing statistical methods for the analysis of comparative (interspecific) data. With the assistance of a separate N.S.F. grant, we make available at no cost computer programs to perform the necessary analyses (PDAP: Phenotypic Diversity Analysis Programs; PDTREE module in Mesquite; PHYLOGR). Analyses include Felsenstein's (1985) method of phylogenetically independent contrasts (with emphasis on branch-length diagnostics and transformations), Monte Carlo computer simulation to obtain phylogenetically correct ("PC") null distributions, and techniques for ancestor reconstruction. Our latest series of programs (PHYSIG), written mainly in MatLab, implements multiple tests for phylogenetic signal and phylogenetic generalized least squares (PGLS) models.
Current and recent collaborators on this research include Drs. Simon P. Blomberg (Canberra), Anthony R. Ives (Univ. of Wisconsin), Peter E. Midford (Univ. of Arizona), Ramon Diaz-Uriarte (Spain), and Francois-Joseph Lapointe (Univ. of Montreal). Two current projects involve developing techniques for (1) incorporating measurement error into phylogenetic analyses and (2) testing hypotheses about convergent evolution. For the latter, we are collaborating with Dr. Eric R. Pianka (Univ. of Texas at Austin) and focusing on a comparison of the lizards Phrynosoma and Moloch.
3. Ecological and Evolutionary Physiology of
Lizards.
We are conducting studies of both individual and interspecific variation in lizard
locomotion and life history traits, also with recent funding from the N.S.F. At
present,
we
are
emphasizing
the family Phrynosomatidae (and select outgroups),
which is diverse in North America and includes three major subclades (fence
lizards [Sceloporus] and their allies,
sand lizards [Callisaurus, Cophosaurus,
Holbrookia,
Uma],
and horned lizards [Phrynosoma]).
Outgroups include Crotaphytidae,
Anguidae,
and Teiidae.
We are testing whether capacities
for speed (measured on a photocell-timed racetrack
and on a high-speed treadmill) and stamina (measured
on a motorized treadmill) show an ineluctable evolutionary trade-off,
as predicted from physiological and biomechanical models, and we are relating
locomotor capacities to variation in limb proportions and muscle fiber-type
composition (in collaboration with Dr. Todd.
T. Gleeson at the University of Colorado, Boulder). This work
formed the basis of Kevin E. Bonine's Ph.D.
dissertation. We will also be attempting to relate variation in locomotor
abilities to interspecific variation in field movement, as indexed by daily
movement distance, home range area, and typical foraging velocities.
Future studies will examine variation in maximal
rates of oxygen consumption.
Jessica
Malisch (formerly Bunkers), a current graduate student, is also investigating
corticosterone levels and clutch size of desert iguanas (Dipsosaurus dorsalis)
in relation to distance from a road, as a possible tool for indicating the "health"
of populations in human-impacted (disturbed) habitats.
We are also performing a phylogenetic analysis of life-history variation in the Phrynosomatidae. Eventually, we want to understand the nature of possible trade-offs between life-history and locomotor phenotypes.
List of Publications (includes links to some abstracts and most PDF files)
Curriculum Vitae (includes links to various people and places, as well as photos)
Biology 105 "Evolution"
Fall 2003 Syllabus
Biology 174 "Ecological and Evolutionary Physiology"
Winter
2002 Syllabus
Fall
2002 Syllabus
Fall 2004 Syllabus
Winter 2006 Syllabus
Winter 2007 Syllabus
Biology 282 "Seminar in Genetics and Evolution" - Phylogenies and the
Comparative Method
Winter
2003 Syllabus
Spring
2006 Syllabus
Phenotypic Diversity Analysis Programs (software to perform phylogenetically based statistical analyses)
PDTREE module in Mesquite (JAVA-based software to perform phylogenetically based statistical analyses)
PHYSIG (MatLab programs to perform phylogenetically based statistical analyses)
PHYLOGR (R language code to perform phylogenetically based statistical analyses)
Picture Gallery (and a few links):
Justin Rhodes, Pat Carter, Isabelle Girard, John Swallow, Ted Garland (at the Evolution meetings in Madison, Wisconsin 1999
Pat Carter, Ted Garland, and John Swallow in 1995
What Ted Garland did before he became a scientist
Why Ted had to leave Wisconsin before his kids got too old
Ted Garland at the Dec. 1995 ASZ Meetings in Washington, D.C.
John Swallow at the Dec. 1995 ASZ Meetings in Washington, D.C.
Michael
Rose, Steve Britton, Ted Garland, and Al Bennett at the Experimental Biology
meetings in Washington, D.C., 30 April 2007
Recent Postdoctorals
Wendy
L. Hodges C.V. Home
Page X-ray
CT scans of Phrynosoma cornutum
Fernando Gomes C.V. behavioral
endocrinology of selected lines of mice, amphibian ecophysiology
Current Postdoctorals
Kevin M. Middleton home
page - vertebrate locomotion and bone biology
(NIH NRSA postdoc with Sharn
M. Swartz at Brown University, cosponsored by TG)
Current Graduate Students
Gabriel E. A. Gartner home
page - vertebrate functional morphology, performance, and selection in the
wild; herpetology
Rob Hannon home
page - Genetics, Genomics,
and Bioinformatics
graduate program
Brooke K. Keeney home
page - neurobiology, endocrinology, and behavior in our selected lines of
mice
Scott
A. Kelly home
page - mammalian ecological and evolutionary
physiology, phenotypic plasticity
Erik
Kolb home
page - mammalian
physiology and neurobiology
Jessica Malisch (formerly Bunkers)
home page - behavioral endocrinology of mice and lizards
Tom Meek home page- evolutionary and exercise physiology
Christopher E. Oufiero home
page - ecological and evolutionary physiology, life history of poecilid fishes
Some Former Graduate Students
Mohammed Al-Kahtani finished Ph.D.
July 2003
Kevin E. Bonine finished
his Ph.D. Dec.
2001 and is presently Adjunct Assistant Professor
at
the Univ. of Arizona
Richard S. King and his
study organism, the massasauga rattlesnake (Sistrurus
catenatus)
Guo Li finished his Masters
in August 2002 and is now in a statistics program at the Univ. of Mchigan
Enrico L. Rezende home
page - [Enrico left for a postdoc in Spain in Sept. 2005, but I am maintaining
a home page
here until he gets a new one] activity physiology of selected
lines of house mice, mammalian ecophysiology
Justin S. Rhodes finished
his Ph.D. in
Dec. 2002 and is currently a postdoc with John
C. Crabbe at
Oregon Health & Science University
Ronald W. Sutherland continued
his Ph.D. at the Univ. of Wisconsin with Tim Moermond
Dependents
Theodore Garland, III (Theo - born 24 October 1999)
27
Oct. 1999 15 Jan.
2000 31 Jan. 2000 movie 24
March 2000 March 2002
April
2003 26 Aug. 2005
Swimming
Art_2004_May_13_1
Art_2004_July_23_1
Art_2004_Sep_29
Art_2004_Oct_8
Art_2004_Oct_26
Jaden Lee Garland (born 7 October 2001) 18
Jan. 2002 21
July 2003
April
2003 "My First Roadkill" 31
Aug. 2003 Aug. 2004 23
Oct. 2005
26
Aug. 2005 Swimming April
2006 with local Rosy Boa
Art_2004_Sep_9
"Two
Little Boys 4 Oct. 2002"
"Two
Little Boys 22 Nov. 2003"
"Two
Little Boys with Grandma 30 Oct. 2005"
"Jaden,
Ted, and Theo at the San Diego Zoo April 2006"
Big
Kitty
Sashi
Research Diagrams (feel free to use with due credit)
Evolutionary Physiology -- unique questions
Phenotypic Hierarchy -- expansion of S. J. Arnold's (1983) morphology, performance, fitness paradigm
Star_Phylogeny_vs_Hierarchical_Tree -- phylogenetic comparative methods
Phylogenetic Pseudoreplication -- phylogenetic comparative methods
Phylogenetically_Independent_Contrasts_1.jpg -- phylogenetic comparative methods
Pictures of (click on name) and Home Pages of Some Former Graduate Students and Postdocs:
Last updated 2 July 2007 by T.G.
Back to Garland Departmental Page
Back to the Department of Biology
Last updated by T.G. 14 Sept. 2007