Henry John-Alder

Professor

I am interested in the general area of ecological and evolutionary physiology and endocrinology: the study of functional traits of organisms, their underlying (endocrine) regulation, and the significance of their variation in the natural world. I have investigated organismal energetics, thermal physiology, exercise performance capacities, and growth regulation, and I have included studies on thyroidal, gonadal, and adrenal endocrine systems. My general approach crosses traditional levels of biological organization from biochemical to behavioral and includes a blend of laboratory and field research. I stress the importance of field experiments solidly grounded in natural history. RESEARCH STATEMENT

Recent Publications:

Carsia, R. V., P. McIlroy, R. M. Cox, M. Barrett, and H. B. John-Alder.  2012.  Effects of food restriction on steroidogenesis in dispersed adrenocortical cells from Yarrow’s Spiny Lizard (Sceloporus jarrovii).  Gen. Comp. Endocrinol.  178:306-313.

Golinski, A., H. John-Alder, and L. Kratochvíl. 2011. Male sexual behavior does not require testosterone in a lizard (Coleonyx elegans, Eublepharidae). Horm. Behav. 59: 144-150
                      
John-Alder, H.B., R.M. Cox, G.J. Haenel, and L.C. Smith.  2009.  Hormones, performance, and fitness: insights from natural history and endocrine experiments on a lizard (Sceloporus undulatus).  Int. Comp. Biol.  49(4): 393-407.

Carsia, R. V., P. McIlroy, R. M. Cox, M. Barrett, and H. B. John-Alder.  2008.  Gonadal modulation of adrenal steroidogenesis in Sceloporus lizards.  Gen. Comp. Endocrinol.  158:202-210.

Cox, R. M., V. Zilberman, and H. B. John-Alder.  2008.  Testosterone stimulates the expression of a social color signal in Yarrow’s Spiny Lizard, Sceloporus jarrovii.  J. Exp. Zool.  309A: 505-514.

Carsia, R. V., R. M. Cox, M. Barrett, P. McIlroy, and H. B. John-Alder.  2008.  Adrenal steroidogenesis in reptiles: insights from dispersed adrenocortical cells from Sceloporus lizards.  Pages 57-88 IN: Recent Advances in Non-Mammalian Adrenal Gland Research.  Ed. A. Capaldo.  Research Signpost, Kerala, India.

Cox, R.M., M.M. Barrett, and H.B. John-Alder.  2008.  Effects of food restriction on growth, energy allocation, and sexual size dimorphism in Yarrow's Spiny Lizard, Sceloporus jarrovii. Canadian Journal of Zoology.  86:268-276.

Cox, R.M. and H. B. John-Alder.  2007.  Increased mite parasitism as a cost of testosterone in male striped plateau lizards Sceloporus virgatus. Functional Ecology 21: 327-334

John-Alder, H. B., R. M. Cox, and E. N. Taylor.  2007.  Proximate developmental mediators of sexual dimorphism in size: case studies from squamate reptiles.  Integrative and Comparative Biology.  47:258-271.

Cox, R.M. and H.B. John-Alder.  2007.  Growing apart together: the development of contrasting sexual size dimorphisms in sympatric Sceloporus lizards. Herpetologica.  63: 245-257.

Cox, R. M., M. A. Butler, and H. B. John-Alder.  2007.  The evolution of sexual size dimorphism in reptiles.  Pages 38-49 IN: Sex, Size, and Gender Roles: Evolutionary Studies of Sexual Size Dimorphism.  Eds. D. J. Fairbairn, W. U. Blanckenhorn, and T. Szekely.  Oxford Univ. Press. Oxford, UK.

John-Alder, H. B. and R. M. Cox.  2007.  Development of sexual size dimorphism in lizards: testosterone as a bipotential growth regulator.  Pages 195-204 IN: Sex, Size, and Gender Roles: Evolutionary Studies of Sexual Size Dimorphism.  Eds. D. J. Fairbairn, W. U. Blanckenhorn, and T. Szekely.  Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford, UK.

Courses Taught:

11:704:360. ANIMAL PHYSIOLOGICAL ECOLOGY (3) Prerequisites: 01:119:101-102. Organism-environment interactions with emphasis on the limitations that the physical environment places on normal function. Focus on responses of animals, including man, to extreme environments.