Jonathan Losos

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Jonathan B. Losos (born December 7, 1961, in St. Louis County, Missouri) is an American evolutionary biologist, herpetologist and ailurologist.

Contents

Life

Losos studied biology at Harvard University, from which he received a Bachelor's degree in 1984. Later on, in 1989, he received a PhD in Zoology from the University of California, Berkeley (Ecomorphological Adaptation in the Genus Anolis). Starting in 1987, he worked as a Teaching assistant in Berkeley. After receiving his PhD, he moved to the University of California, Davis in 1990 to become one of the inaugural postdoctoral fellows at the Center for Population Biology. Losos then, from 1992 on, was assistant professor at the Washington University in St. Louis, and then was promoted to the rank of associate professor in 1997 and professor in 2001. [1]

His work focuses on a wide range of topics, but he is best known for his studies of convergent evolution and adaptive radiation, and for experimental studies of evolution in nature. [2] Most of his empirical work has involved the evolutionary radiation of lizards in the genus Anolis which occur in Central and South America and on islands in the Caribbean.

From 2000 to 2003 and 2004–2005, Losos was director of Tyson Research Center at Washington University in St. Louis. In 2006, Losos left Washington University to become the Monique and Philip Lehner Professor for the Study of Latin America at Harvard University and Professor in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, as well as Curator in Herpetology of the Museum of Comparative Zoology. Losos then returned to Washington University in 2018 to become the William H. Danforth Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Biology, as well as the founding director of the Living Earth Collaborative, a biodiversity partnership between Washington University, the Missouri Botanical Garden and the Saint Louis Zoo. [3]

Honors and awards

Losos has received a number of awards, including the Dobzhansky Prize in 1991, the David Starr Jordan Prize in 1998, the Edward O. Wilson Naturalist Award in 2009, the Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal in 2012, the Sewall Wright Award in 2019, [4] and the Friend of Darwin Award in 2024. [5]

Losos is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2005) and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2012) and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences (2018) and the American Philosophical Society (2024). In 2016, he received the Distinguished Herpetologist award of The Herpetologists' League. [1]

Works

As author

As editor

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adaptive radiation</span> A process in which organisms diversify rapidly from an ancestral species

In evolutionary biology, adaptive radiation is a process in which organisms diversify rapidly from an ancestral species into a multitude of new forms, particularly when a change in the environment makes new resources available, alters biotic interactions or opens new environmental niches. Starting with a single ancestor, this process results in the speciation and phenotypic adaptation of an array of species exhibiting different morphological and physiological traits. The prototypical example of adaptive radiation is finch speciation on the Galapagos, but examples are known from around the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dactyloidae</span> Family of reptiles

Dactyloidae are a family of lizards commonly known as anoles and native to warmer parts of the Americas, ranging from southeastern United States to Paraguay. Instead of treating it as a family, some authorities prefer to treat it as a subfamily, Dactyloinae, of the family Iguanidae. In the past they were included in the family Polychrotidae together with Polychrus, but the latter genus is not closely related to the true anoles.

<i>Anolis</i> Genus of lizards

Anolis is a genus of anoles, iguanian lizards in the family Dactyloidae, native to the Americas. With more than 425 species, it represents the world's most species-rich amniote tetrapod genus, although many of these have been proposed to be moved to other genera, in which case only about 45 Anolis species remain. Previously, it was classified under the family Polychrotidae that contained all the anoles, as well as Polychrus, but recent studies place it in the Dactyloidae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sewall Wright</span> American geneticist (1889–1988)

Sewall Green Wright FRS (For) ForHonorary FRSE was an American geneticist known for his influential work on evolutionary theory and also for his work on path analysis. He was a founder of population genetics alongside Ronald Fisher and J. B. S. Haldane, which was a major step in the development of the modern synthesis combining genetics with evolution. He discovered the inbreeding coefficient and methods of computing it in pedigree animals. He extended this work to populations, computing the amount of inbreeding between members of populations as a result of random genetic drift, and along with Fisher he pioneered methods for computing the distribution of gene frequencies among populations as a result of the interaction of natural selection, mutation, migration and genetic drift. Wright also made major contributions to mammalian and biochemical genetics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Divergent evolution</span> Accumulation of differences between closely related species populations, leading to speciation

Divergent evolution or divergent selection is the accumulation of differences between closely related populations within a species, sometimes leading to speciation. Divergent evolution is typically exhibited when two populations become separated by a geographic barrier and experience different selective pressures that cause adaptations. After many generations and continual evolution, the populations become less able to interbreed with one another. The American naturalist J. T. Gulick (1832–1923) was the first to use the term "divergent evolution", with its use becoming widespread in modern evolutionary literature. Examples of divergence in nature are the adaptive radiation of the finches of the Galápagos, changes in mobbing behavior of the kittiwake, and the evolution of the modern-day dog from the wolf.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Lenski</span> American evolutionary biologist

Richard E. Lenski is an American evolutionary biologist, the John A. Hannah Distinguished Professor of Microbial Ecology at Michigan State University. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a MacArthur Fellow. Lenski is best known for his still ongoing 36-year-old long-term E. coli evolution experiment, which has been instrumental in understanding the core processes of evolution, including mutation rates, clonal interference, antibiotic resistance, the evolution of novel traits, and speciation. He is also well known for his pioneering work in studying evolution digitally using self-replicating organisms called Avida.

Eric Rodger Pianka was an American herpetologist and evolutionary ecologist.

Joan Roughgarden is an American ecologist and evolutionary biologist. She has engaged in theory and observation of coevolution and competition in Anolis lizards of the Caribbean, and recruitment limitation in the rocky intertidal zones of California and Oregon. She has more recently become known for her rejection of sexual selection, her theistic evolutionism, and her work on holobiont evolution.

Hobart Muir Smith, born Frederick William Stouffer, was an American herpetologist. He is credited with describing more than 100 new species of American reptiles and amphibians. In addition, he has been honored by having at least six species named after him, including the southwestern blackhead snake, Smith's earth snake, Smith's arboreal alligator lizard, Hobart's anadia, Hobart Smith's anole, and Smith's rose-bellied lizard. At 100 years of age, Smith continued to be an active and productive herpetologist. Although he published on a wide range of herpetological subjects, his main focus throughout his career was on the amphibians and reptiles of Mexico, including taxonomy, bibliographies, and history. Having published more than 1,600 manuscripts, he surpassed all contemporaries and remains the most published herpetologist of all time.

<i>Anolis pulchellus</i> Species of reptile

Anolis pulchellus, the Puerto Rican anole, Puerto Rican bush anole, snake anole, or sharp-mouthed lizard, is a small species of anole lizard in the family Dactyloidae. The species is among the most common lizards in Puerto Rico, and also native to Vieques, Culebra, and the Virgin Islands.

The Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal is awarded by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences "for meritorious work in zoology or paleontology study published in a three to five year period." Named after Daniel Giraud Elliot, it was first awarded in 1917.

Duncan Irschick is an evolutionary ecologist and functional morphologist in the field of animal athletics, more specifically known as animal performance. He has worked on many kinds of animal species, including reptiles and amphibians, rodents, ungulates, spiders, and humans. He was a faculty member at Tulane University for five years (2001–2006) before joining the faculty at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 2006.

<i>Anolis</i> ecomorphs Grouping of species of lizard

The ecomorph concept is a term first coined by Ernest Edward Williams in 1972 which he defined as a “species with the same structural habitat/niche, similar in morphology and behavior, but not necessarily close phyletically.” Williams first applied this definition to the Greater Antillean anoles upon observing their evolutionary radiation, although it has since been used widely elsewhere.

Kevin de Queiroz is a vertebrate, evolutionary, and systematic biologist. He has worked in the phylogenetics and evolutionary biology of squamate reptiles, the development of a unified species concept and of a phylogenetic approach to biological nomenclature, and the philosophy of systematic biology.

Ruth Geyer Shaw is a professor and principal investigator in the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior at the University of Minnesota. She studies the processes involved in genetic variation, specializing in plant population biology and evolutionary quantitative genetics. Her work is particularly relevant in studying the effects of stressors such as climate instability and population fragmentation on evolutionary change in populations. She has developed and applied new statistical methods for her field and is considered a leading population geneticist.

Ernest Edward Williams was an American herpetologist. He coined the term ecomorph based on his research on anoles.

<i>Anolis vermiculatus</i> Species of lizard

Anolis vermiculatus, the Vinales anole or Cuban stream anole, is a species of lizard in the family Dactyloidae, endemic to Cuba.

<i>Anolis eugenegrahami</i> Species of lizard

Anolis eugenegrahami, the Eugene's anole or the black stream anole, is a critically endangered species of lizard in the family Dactyloidae. This semi-aquatic species is endemic to northern Haiti.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shane Campbell-Staton</span> American evolutionary biologist

Shane C. Campbell-Staton is an American evolutionary biologist. Since July 2021, he has been an assistant professor in the ecology and evolutionary biology department at Princeton, where he leads a research group. His work is on how phenotypes respond to human activity that affects the environment. He also hosts the podcast 'Biology of Superheroes' together with Arien Darby.

Martha M. Muñoz is an American evolutionary biologist and an Assistant Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Yale University. She is also an assistant curator for the Division of Vertebrate Zoology at the Yale Peabody Museum. In particular, Muñoz researches the influence of biomechanics and behavior on evolution in reptiles, amphibians, and fishes. In 2024, she was named a MacArthur Fellow.

References

  1. 1 2 "Jonathan Losos". Losos Laboratory. harvard.edu. Archived from the original on 21 September 2021. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
  2. ↑ Pennisi, Elizabeth (2020-07-30). "Meet Lizard Man, a reptile-loving biologist tackling some of the biggest questions in evolution". Science | AAAS. Retrieved 2021-06-17.
  3. ↑ "Sustaining life on Earth | The Source | Washington University in St. Louis". The Source. 2018-04-06. Retrieved 2018-11-17.
  4. ↑ "Sewall Wright Award 2019". www.amnat.org. Retrieved 2019-04-23.
  5. ↑ "Friend of Darwin and Friend of the Planet awards for 2024 | National Center for Science Education". ncse.ngo. Retrieved 2024-06-25.
  6. ↑ Rodríguez-Robles, Javier A. (Summer 2010). "Review of Lizards in an Evolutionary Tree by Jonathan B. Losos". ReVista: Harvard Review of Latin America.
  7. ↑ Albert, James (2017-12-27). "Review of Improbable Destinies, Fate, Chance, and the Future of Evolution". Systematic Biology. 67 (2). Oxford University Press (OUP): 363–365. doi: 10.1093/sysbio/syx091 . ISSN   1063-5157.
  8. ↑ Coyne, Jerry A. (May 3, 2023). "Why a wildcat lurks within your sweet Fluffy (review of The Cat's Meow by Jonathan B. Losos)". The Washington Post.
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