Albert Farrell Bennett | |
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Born | |
Nationality | American |
Occupation(s) | Zoologist, physiologist, evolutionary biologist, author, and academic |
Academic background | |
Education | A.B., Zoology Ph.D., Zoology |
Alma mater | University of California, Riverside University of Michigan |
Thesis | Oxygen transport and energy metabolism in two species of lizards, Sauromalus hispidus and Varanus gouldii (1971) |
Academic work | |
Institutions | University of California,Irvine |
Albert Farrell Bennett is an American zoologist,physiologist,evolutionary biologist,author,and academic. He is Dean Emeritus of the School of Biological Sciences at University of California,Irvine. [1]
Bennett's research focuses on exploring the interaction between living systems and their environment,specifically focusing on temperature and energy exchange. [2] He is a co-author of several books,including New Directions in Ecological Physiology and Animals and Temperature:Phenotypic and Evolutionary Adaptation. He is an Elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences [3] and the American Association for the Advancement of Science,and serves on the board of directors for environmental and educational organizations,including the Crystal Cove Conservancy, [4] the Irvine Ranch Conservancy, [5] Pangea World, [6] and the Center for International Experiential Learning. [7]
In 1966,he earned an A.B. in Zoology from the University of California,Riverside. He later obtained a Ph.D. in zoology from the University of Michigan in 1971,followed by a Miller Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of California,Berkeley from 1971 to 1973. [8]
Bennett began his career in academia as an Acting Assistant Professor in the Department of Zoology at UC Berkeley in 1973. Afterwards,he joined the faculty at University of California (UC) Irvine in 1974,initially as an assistant professor in the Departments of Developmental and Cell Biology,and Ecology and Evolutionary Biology,before becoming associate professor in 1978. He was appointed as a professor in 1983 and served in that capacity until his retirement in 2013. [9]
Bennett served as Chair of the Department of Developmental and Cell Biology in 1984-86 and 1988–89,Acting Dean in 1986-88 and 2006–07,and held an appointment as the Inaugural Hana and Francisco J. Ayala Dean at School of Biological Sciences from 2007 to 2013. In addition,he was appointed as the Chair of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from 1998 to 2006,and as Vice Provost for Academic Initiatives from 2013 to 2016. He holds the position of Dean Emeritus in the School of Biological Sciences. He held research appointments at University of Chicago,Michigan State University,University of Nairobi,University of Western Australia,University of Adelaide,and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. [1]
Bennett is most known for his contributions to the fields of evolutionary and comparative physiology, [10] and has been honored with several awards,including being named a Hansen Distinguished Lecturer by the University of California,Berkeley and an August Krogh Distinguished Lecturer by the American Physiological Society. [8]
Bennett's research focuses on how temperature affects rate processes in various organisms,including metabolism, [11] locomotion, [12] [13] growth,and reproduction,and examines the factors that limit these processes,such as energy intake and its allocation to maintenance,thermoregulation,synthesis,and activity. Much of his early research included comparative and experimental studies on reptiles to understand the evolution of endothermy in mammals and birds,including the physiological and morphological alterations involved and the selective factors that promoted its development. His work also explored the adaptive patterns in behavior and energy allocation of ectothermic vertebrates, [14] particularly reptiles, [15] [16] which have limited oxygen uptake and rely on anaerobic metabolism for intense activity. In a highly cited 1979 joint research work with J. Ruben,he compared aerobic metabolism between endothermic and ectothermic vertebrates,highlighting the importance of aerobic metabolism in the former. This study suggested that the evolution of endothermy was driven by the need to increase aerobic capacities for sustained activity and not just for thermoregulation alone. [17] In other studies,he also evaluated the thermal dependence of locomotor capacity in ectothermic vertebrates and found that low temperature greatly constrains performance. [18] He argued for the need for a comprehensive concept of thermal adaptation that considers all levels of biological organization,from molecules to whole organisms,and their connections to fitness and ecological success. [19]
Bennett's research has a focus on metabolism that explores various organizational levels,including enzymatic,organismal,and ecological aspects. In this regard,he compared and contrasted the physiology of lower vertebrates (such as reptiles,amphibians,and fish) with mammals and birds during activity,particularly exploring oxygen consumption,anaerobic metabolism,and body temperature effects. [20] Through his research studies,he found that an organism's metabolic design and capacities play a significant role in determining the types and levels of feasible behavior,allowing behavior only within those constraints. [21] In another study,he measured the metabolic rates of western fence lizards in both laboratory and field settings. This research stressed upon the importance of considering activity levels when measuring metabolic rates and comparing them to those of birds and mammals. [22]
In conjunction with R. Huey and T. Garland,Bennett's research highlighted the importance of using phylogenetic information in comparative studies,introduced three methods and provided examples,while addressing potential difficulties and emphasizing the importance of evolutionary history. [23] Their research adopted an ecological and evolutionary framework developed to examine how organisms adapt to natural environmental variations and to analyze organismal adjustments to heat stress. [24]
Bennett outlined four general approaches to the study of evolutionary physiology and demonstrated the value of selection experiments in testing hypotheses about functional character evolution. [25] Maintaining that experimental evolution is a valuable tool to test evolutionary hypotheses and determine adaptive responses to new environments,he,in collaboration with R. Lenski and other researchers,examined the patterns of evolutionary change in bacterial populations exposed to different thermal and acidic conditions to investigate evolutionary dynamics in diverse environments. They studied the number and diversity of beneficial mutations by subjecting 115 Escherichia coli populations to 2000 generations of evolution at high temperature. The experiment resulted in the identification of 1331 mutations affecting 600 sites,revealing the presence of epistasis among beneficial mutations that shape adaptive trajectories. [26] Through two additional bacterial experiments,they assessed the impact of adaptation,chance,and history on the evolution of fitness and cell size,and found that populations achieved similar fitness regardless of history or chance,while the evolution of cell size was influenced by both history and chance. [27] They additionally tested the evolutionary hypothesis of trade-off,the necessary loss of fitness in other environments during adaptation to a new one. Twenty-four bacterial populations were adapted to low temperature and correlated fitness change at high temperature was determined. Loss of fitness was observed in 15 populations,but not in the other 9. Consequently,trade-offs were generally,but not universally observed. [28]
Warm-blooded is an informal term referring to animal species whose bodies maintain a temperature higher than that of their environment. In particular,homeothermic species maintain a stable body temperature by regulating metabolic processes. Other species have various degrees of thermoregulation.
Hibernation is a state of minimal activity and metabolic depression undergone by some animal species. Hibernation is a seasonal heterothermy characterized by low body-temperature,slow breathing and heart-rate,and low metabolic rate. It most commonly occurs during winter months.
Torpor is a state of decreased physiological activity in an animal,usually marked by a reduced body temperature and metabolic rate. Torpor enables animals to survive periods of reduced food availability. The term "torpor" can refer to the time a hibernator spends at low body temperature,lasting days to weeks,or it can refer to a period of low body temperature and metabolism lasting less than 24 hours,as in "daily torpor".
An endotherm is an organism that maintains its body at a metabolically favorable temperature,largely by the use of heat released by its internal bodily functions instead of relying almost purely on ambient heat. Such internally generated heat is mainly an incidental product of the animal's routine metabolism,but under conditions of excessive cold or low activity an endotherm might apply special mechanisms adapted specifically to heat production. Examples include special-function muscular exertion such as shivering,and uncoupled oxidative metabolism,such as within brown adipose tissue.
Thermogenesis is the process of heat production in organisms. It occurs in all warm-blooded animals,and also in a few species of thermogenic plants such as the Eastern skunk cabbage,the Voodoo lily,and the giant water lilies of the genus Victoria. The lodgepole pine dwarf mistletoe,Arceuthobium americanum,disperses its seeds explosively through thermogenesis.
The metabolic theory of ecology (MTE) is the ecological component of the more general Metabolic Scaling Theory and Kleiber's law. It posits that the metabolic rate of organisms is the fundamental biological rate that governs most observed patterns in ecology. MTE is part of a larger set of theory known as metabolic scaling theory that attempts to provide a unified theory for the importance of metabolism in driving pattern and process in biology from the level of cells all the way to the biosphere.
Experimental evolution is the use of laboratory experiments or controlled field manipulations to explore evolutionary dynamics. Evolution may be observed in the laboratory as individuals/populations adapt to new environmental conditions by natural selection.
Exaptation and the related term co-option describe a shift in the function of a trait during evolution. For example,a trait can evolve because it served one particular function,but subsequently it may come to serve another. Exaptations are common in both anatomy and behaviour.
Phenotypic plasticity refers to some of the changes in an organism's behavior,morphology and physiology in response to a unique environment. Fundamental to the way in which organisms cope with environmental variation,phenotypic plasticity encompasses all types of environmentally induced changes that may or may not be permanent throughout an individual's lifespan.
Climatic adaptation refers to adaptations of an organism that are triggered due to the patterns of variation of abiotic factors that determine a specific climate. Annual means,seasonal variation and daily patterns of abiotic factors are properties of a climate where organisms can be adapted to. Changes in behavior,physical structure,internal mechanisms and metabolism are forms of adaptation that is caused by climate properties. Organisms of the same species that occur in different climates can be compared to determine which adaptations are due to climate and which are influenced majorly by other factors. Climatic adaptations limits to adaptations that have been established,characterizing species that live within the specific climate. It is different from climate change adaptations which refers to the ability to adapt to gradual changes of a climate. Once a climate has changed,the climate change adaptation that led to the survival of the specific organisms as a species can be seen as a climatic adaptation. Climatic adaptation is constrained by the genetic variability of the species in question.
The physiology of dinosaurs has historically been a controversial subject,particularly their thermoregulation. Recently,many new lines of evidence have been brought to bear on dinosaur physiology generally,including not only metabolic systems and thermoregulation,but on respiratory and cardiovascular systems as well.
Carrier's constraint is the observation that air-breathing vertebrates which have two lungs and flex their bodies sideways during locomotion find it very difficult to move and breathe at the same time,because the sideways flexing expands one lung and compresses the other,shunting stale air from lung to lung instead of expelling it completely to make room for fresh air.
Comparative physiology is a subdiscipline of physiology that studies and exploits the diversity of functional characteristics of various kinds of organisms. It is closely related to evolutionary physiology and environmental physiology. Many universities offer undergraduate courses that cover comparative aspects of animal physiology. According to Clifford Ladd Prosser,"Comparative Physiology is not so much a defined discipline as a viewpoint,a philosophy."
Evolutionary physiology is the study of the biological evolution of physiological structures and processes;that is,the manner in which the functional characteristics of individuals in a population of organisms have responded to natural selection across multiple generations during the history of the population. It is a sub-discipline of both physiology and evolutionary biology. Practitioners in the field come from a variety of backgrounds,including physiology,evolutionary biology,ecology,and genetics.
A eurytherm is an organism,often an endotherm,that can function at a wide range of ambient temperatures. To be considered a eurytherm,all stages of an organism's life cycle must be considered,including juvenile and larval stages. These wide ranges of tolerable temperatures are directly derived from the tolerance of a given eurythermal organism's proteins. Extreme examples of eurytherms include Tardigrades (Tardigrada),the desert pupfish,and green crabs,however,nearly all mammals,including humans,are considered eurytherms. Eurythermy can be an evolutionary advantage:adaptations to cold temperatures,called cold-eurythemy,are seen as essential for the survival of species during ice ages. In addition,the ability to survive in a wide range of temperatures increases a species' ability to inhabit other areas,an advantage for natural selection.
The E. coli long-term evolution experiment (LTEE) is an ongoing study in experimental evolution begun by Richard Lenski at the University of California,Irvine,carried on by Lenski and colleagues at Michigan State University,and currently overseen by Jeffrey E. Barrick at the University of Texas at Austin. It has been tracking genetic changes in 12 initially identical populations of asexual Escherichia coli bacteria since 24 February 1988. Lenski performed the 10,000th transfer of the experiment on March 13,2017. The populations reached over 73,000 generations in early 2020,shortly before being frozen because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In September 2020,the LTEE experiment was resumed using the frozen stocks.
The beneficial acclimation hypothesis (BAH) is the physiological hypothesis that acclimating to a particular environment provides an organism with advantages in that environment. First formally tested by Armand Marie Leroi,Albert Bennett,and Richard Lenski in 1994,it has however been a central assumption in historical physiological work that acclimation is adaptive. Further refined by Raymond B. Huey and David Berrigan under the strong inference approach,the hypothesis has been falsified as a general rule by a series of multiple hypotheses experiments.
Theodore Garland Jr. is a biologist specializing in evolutionary physiology at the University of California,Riverside.
In biology,kleptothermy is any form of thermoregulation by which an animal shares in the metabolic thermogenesis of another animal. It may or may not be reciprocal,and occurs in both endotherms and ectotherms. One of its forms is huddling. However,kleptothermy can happen between different species that share the same habitat,and can also happen in pre-hatching life where embryos are able to detect thermal changes in the environment.
A mesotherm is a type of animal with a thermoregulatory strategy intermediate to cold-blooded ectotherms and warm-blooded endotherms.