Dr. Ben Fitzpatrick and his graduate student, Rebecca Smith are recipients of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation: Bring Back the Native Fish award
Shipley-Swann Fellowship for Pierson
Todd Pierson (Fitzpatrick Lab) has been awarded a Shipley-Swann Graduate School Fellowship for 2017-18.
The fellowship recognizes graduate students across campus who demonstrate academic excellence; it provides students with a stipend of $5,000 for the year.
Congratulations, Todd!
Nelson in Knoxville Mercury
FWF alum Stephen Nelson appeared in an article in the Knoxville Mercury on September 21, 2016.
Nelson did research in the Fitzpatrick Lab as an undergraduate; he is now a herpetology keeper at Knoxville Zoo. The article focuses on what might be a new species of mudpuppy in the Hiwassee River.
Marathon Finish for Fitzpatrick
Associate Professor Ben Fitzpatrick placed sixth in the Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon on Sunday! His time was 2:58:12. Congratulations, Ben!
Bog Turtle Research Featured on PBS
Tennessee’s Wild Side filmed a short documentary featuring some of the research Cassie Dresser (Fitzpatrick Lab) and her collaborators are doing on the endangered Bog Turtle in Shady Valley, Tennessee. The show aired on October 31 at 10 AM on PBS. Return to Shady Valley (Wild Side)
AmNat paper for Marion
Graduate student Zach Marion (Fitzpatrick lab) has a new paper out in American Naturalist with Jim Fordyce and Ben Fitzpatrick called “Extending the concept of diversity partitioning to characterize phenotypic complexity.” Congratulations!
Zoo Grant Awarded to Cassie Dresser
Graduate student Cassie Dresser (Fitzpatrick Lab) has just found out that her work on Bog Turtle conservation in collaboration with the Knoxville Zoo was funded by a $21,000 grant from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Congratulations!
NSF DDIG for Zach Marion
Congratulations to Zach Marion & Ben Fitzpatrick. They just found out that Zach’s NSF Dissertation Improvement Grant will be funded (details below)!
Dissertation Research: Evolutionary complexity and diversity of chemical defenses in diurnal and nocturnal fireflies
Predation is a powerful force driving prey evolution. Recent studies have highlighted that defenses against predators are rarely simple but are instead multivariate, with individual components that are better suited for some predators than others, or that are differentially expressed at different stages of ontogeny. Closely related populations or species may employ qualitatively and quantitatively different defense strategies because of chance or from past or ongoing selection. Thus, two key questions are (i) what factors favor particular defensive strategies and (ii) how are these strategies integrated into the phenotype? Chemically mediated defenses in fireflies provide an excellent system in which to evaluate these questions. Although primarily known for their bioluminescent mate signaling, most fireflies produce an impressive array of cardiac steroids that vary qualitatively (e.g., chemical structure) and quantitatively (e.g., concentrations) within and among populations and species. Yet, little is known about firefly chemical diversity, and how it—and integrated defensive phenotypes in general—evolve. Here we consider whether shifts between diurnal and nocturnal activity (and associated loses or gains of bioluminescence) are accompanied by changes in the mode and tempo of evolution of chemical defenses. We propose to quantify the complexity and diversity of chemical defense compounds in several species, and use a phylogenetic comparative framework to estimate rates of change and patterns of convergence and divergence of chemical phenotypes.