The Life and Times of David Starr Jordan
The NOAA Ship David Starr Jordan
Cornell University Division of Biological Sciences
Indiana University Department of Biology
Jonathan Losos
Jonathan Losos was born in St. Louis in 1961.
He received his B.A. from Harvard University,
where he was introduced to Anolis lizards
by Ernest Williams, the Grand Old Man of the
field. After considering, and discarding, many
potential thesis topics, it was at a summer
tropical biology course in Costa Rica that he
realized the potential of anoles (as they are
called) for studying questions about evolutionary
diversification. After completing his Ph.D.
in Zoology at the University of California,
Berkeley, he served as a postdoctoral Fellow
at the Center for Population Biology at the
University of California, Davis, before returning
to St. Louis as an Assistant Professor at Washington
University in 1992.
Dr. Losos' more than 50 published papers reflect
an innovative and highly successful approach
to some of the most pressing questions in evolutionary
ecology, addressed by applying diverse techniques
to field studies of an unusually large adaptive
radiation. Other works in progress include the
evolution of sexual dimorphism, communication
signals, life-history evolution, anti-predator
behavior, and ecomorphological studies in new-
and old-world lizards and snake taxa. He had
made major contributions to behavioral ecology,
community ecology, evolution and biogeography.
His research has illustrated how phylogenetic studies of evolutionary relationships can be integrated with field and laboratory studies to illuminate patterns of evolutionary adaptation and diversification. His work has been unusually broad, combining behavioral observations, manipulative field experiments, laboratory studies of functional morphology, and phylogenetic comparative methods. Dr. Losos helped bring about the "phylogenetic revolution" in evolutionary biology that is still underway today.
Building on the vast knowledge on anole ecology and behavior amassed by Williams and his students, Dr. Losos has established Anolis as one of the model systems for integrative studies of macroevolutionary questions. In recognition of this work, he was awarded the Theodosius Dobzhansky Prize from the Society for the Study of Evolution in 1991.
Dr. Losos is currently the associate editor for the major journal, Evolution. He was an associate editor for Systematic Biology in 1995. Among the several major grants that he currently holds is a prestigious five-year Fellowship in Science and Engineering from the David and Lucille Packard Foundation.
[top] [the prize] [life and times] [recipients]
Last Updated: 11 March 2003
url: www.davidstarrjordan.org
contact: webmaster