This project entails a five-year program of research and education. Research focuses on the development and evolution of extreme shapes in animals. Dung beetles of the genus Onthophagus (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) often produce extraordinary horns not unlike the enlarged antlers of elk or moose. Horns in beetles generally are produced by males, and are used in aggressive contests over reproductive access to females. Here, building on almost ten years of prior research with these animals, the PI will integrate approaches of development, genetics, evolution, and behavior to eludidate mechanisms underlying the evolution of diversity in horns of beetles and to examine how functional costs of horn production may constrain their evolution. This research program is designed to provide meaningful research experiences for motivated undergraduates at all levels of the scientific process (design and implementation of experiments, analysis, writing, and dissemination of results). The PI will design a course on evolution that builds on this research program, as well as others at the University of Montana, so that immediate and tangible research projects provide vehicles for conveying major concepts in biology. This research- and concept-based approach to teaching evolution will also entail student internships in local high school biology classrooms, as part of an existing outreach program between the biology department at the University of Montana and the community at large.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
Emlen, D. J., Marangelo, J., Ball, B. and Cunningham, C.. "Diversity in the weapons of sexual selection: horn evolution in the beetle genus Onthophagus (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) (with cover illustration)," Evolution, v.59, 2005, p. 1060-1084.
Emlen, D. J., Nijhout, H. F.. "Hormonal control of male horn length dimorphism in
Onthophagus taurus (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae): a second
critical period of sensitivity to juvenile hormone," Journal of Insect Physiology, v.47, 2001, p. 1045.
Emlen, DJ. "Phylogenetic evidence for an association between tunneling behavior and the evolution of horns in dung beetles (Coleoptera : Scarabaeidae : Scarabaeinae)," COLEOPTERISTS BULLETIN, v.60, 2006, p. 47-56.
Emlen, DJ; Lavine, LC; Ewen-Campen, B. "On the origin and evolutionary diversification of beetle horns," PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, v.104, 2007, p. 8661-8668.
Emlen, DJ; Szafran, Q; Corley, LS; Dworkin, I. "Insulin signaling and limb-patterning: candidate pathways for the origin and evolutionary diversification of beetle 'horns'," HEREDITY, v.97, 2006, p. 179-191.
Emlen, Douglas J. and Allen, Cerisse. "Genotype to phenotype: Physiological control of trait size and scaling in insects," Integrative and Comparative Biology, v.43, 2004, p. 617.
Hartfelder, Klaus and Emlen, Douglas. "Endocrine Control of Insect Polyphenism," Comprehensive Molecular Insect Science, v.3, 2005, p. 651-703.
Maginnis, T. L.. "The cost of autotomy and regeneration in animals: a review and framework for future research," Behavioral Ecology, v.17, 2006, p. 857.
Maginnis, TL. "Leg regeneration stunts wing growth and hinders flight performance in a stick insect (Sipyloidea sipylus)," PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES, v.273, 2006, p. 1811-1814.
Miller, CW; Moore, AJ. "A potential resolution to the lek paradox through indirect genetic effects," PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES, v.274, 2007, p. 1279-1286.
Moczek, A. P., Hunt, J., Emlen, D. J., and Simmons, L. W.. "Threshold evolution in exotic populations of a polyphenic beetle," Evolutionary Ecology Research, v.4, 2002, p. 587.
Shingleton, AW; Frankino, WA; Flatt, T; Nijhout, HF; Emlen, DJ. "Size and shape: the developmental regulation of static allometry in insects," BIOESSAYS, v.29, 2007, p. 536-548.
Simmons, LW; Emlen, DJ. "Evolutionary trade-off between weapons and testes," PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, v.103, 2006, p. 16346-16351.
