Outreach & Articles

Highlights Mostly for the Lay Reader

Here’s a short (< 5 min.) video on our spadefoot research:

From the National Science Foundations’s Science Nation series.

Concerning our research on mimicry:

Concerning the article:

Allf, B. C., Durst, P. A. D., and Pfennig, D. W. 2016. Behavioral plasticity and the origins of novelty: the evolution of the rattlesnake rattle. The American Naturalist 188: 475–483.

Death rattle Tristan Savatier/Moment Open/Getty

Concerning our research on spadefoot toads:

Concerning the article:

Akcali, C. K. and Pfennig, D. W. 2014. Rapid evolution of mimicry following local model extinction. Biology Letters 10: 20140304.

The harmless scarlet kingsnake is colored in repeating patterns of red, black, yellow and black rings — the red rings are surrounded by black rings.(Image: © David Pfennig.)

Concerning the article:

Bono, L. M., Gensel, C. L., Pfennig, D. W., and Burch, C. L. 2013. Competition and the origins of novelty: experimental evolution of host-range expansion in a virus. Biology Letters 9: 20120616.

Concerning the article:

Kikuchi, D. W. and Pfennig, D. W. 2010. Predator cognition permits imperfect coral snake mimicry. The American Naturalist 176: 830-834.

Concerning the article:

Martin, R. A. and Pfennig, D. W. 2010. Maternal investment influences expression of resource polymorphism in amphibians: implications for the evolution of novel resource-use phenotypes. PLoS One 5(2): e9117.

A carnivorous tadpole turns cannibal (Image: David Pfennig)

Concerning the article:

Ledón-Rettig, C., Pfennig, D. W., and Crespi, E. J. 2010. Diet and hormone manipulations reveal cryptic genetic variation: implications for the evolution of novel feeding strategies. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B 277: 3569–3578.

  • Highlighted in Nature (“Evolutionary biology: meat-eating tadpoles”, July 1, 2010, vol. 466, page 11)

Concerning the article:

Harper, G. R. Jr. and Pfennig, D. W. 2008. Selection overrides gene flow to break down maladaptive mimicry. Nature 451: 1103-1106.

  • Highlighted in Current Biology (“Batesian mimicry: can a leopard change its spots – and get them back?”, June 3, 2008, vol. 18, issue 11, pp. R476-R479)
     

Concerning the article:

Kingsolver, J. G. and Pfennig, D.W. 2004. Individual-level selection as a cause of Cope’s rule of phyletic size increase. Evolution 58: 1608-1612.

  • Highlighted in Trends in Ecology and Evolution (“The evolution of large size: how does Cope’s Rule work?”, January 2005, vol. 20, issue 1, pp. 4-6)
     

Concerning the article:

Pfennig, D. W., Harcombe, W. R., and Pfennig, K. S. 2001. Frequency-dependent Batesian mimicry. Nature 410: 323.

  • Highlighted in Chapter 4 (“Life Imitates Life”) of the book Remarkable Creatures: Epic Adventures in the Origin of Species, by Sean B. Carroll, 2009
  • Highlighted in Chapter 1 (“A Case Study of Scientific Inquiry”) of a major Biology text Biology, 7th edition, by Neil A. Campbell and Jan. B. Reese, 2005
  • Highlighted in The 2002 Britannica Book of the Year (p. 235)
  • Highlighted in Natural History (“Snake Fakery”, June 2001, p. 18)

Concerning the article:

Pfennig, D. W., Ho, S., and Hoffman, E. A. 1998. Pathogen transmission as a selective force against cannibalism. Animal Behaviour 55: 1255-1261.

  • Highlighted in Science News (“Why Aren’t There More Cannibals Around?”, May 9, 1998, p. 295)
  • Highlighted on Science’s web page (Daily inSCIght) (“Cannibal’s Risky Diet”, May 13, 1998)
  • Highlighted on ABC News web page (“Cannibalism can Kill You”, July 1, 1998)
  • Highlighted in The Washington Post (“Why Don’t We Eat Our Own Kind? They’d Bite Back; Cannibals May Risk Ingesting Deadly Germs, Study Finds”, August 31, 1998, p. A03)
  • Highlighted in National Geographic (Earth Almanac: “Animal Cannibals: A Risky Diet”, April, 1999)

Concerning the article:

Pfennig, D. W. and Collins, J. P. 1993. Kinship affects morphogenesis in cannibalistic salamanders. Nature 362: 836-838.

  • Highlighted in Trends in Ecology and Evolution (“Cannibalism among amphibian larvae: a case of good taste”, January 1994, vol. 9, issue 1, pp. 5-6)
  • Highlighted in The New Scientist (“Consuming Passion for Distant Relatives”, July 18, 1993, p. 15)
  • Subject of a cartoon by Larry Gonick in Discover (“Fine Young Cannibals”, October, 1993, p. 124-125)
  • Highlighted in The 1994 Encyclopaedia Britannica Book of the Year (“Life Sciences, Zoology”, p. 209-210)

Concerning the article:

Pfennig, D. W., Reeve, H. K., and Sherman, P. W. 1993. Kin recognition and cannibalism in spadefoot toad tadpoles. Animal Behaviour 46: 87-94.

  • Highlighted in The Washington Post (“For Arizona’s Cannibalistic Tadpoles, Eating is a Relative Matter”, December 9, 1991, p. A3)
  • Highlighted in Scientific American (“Relative Hunger”, March 1992, p. 18)

Concerning the article:

Pfennig, D. W., Loeb, M. L. G., and Collins, J. P. 1991. Pathogens as a factor limiting the spread of cannibalism among tiger salamanders. Oecologia 88: 161-166.

  • Highlighted in The New Scientist (“Cannibals Eat Their Way to an Early Death”, December 7, 1991, p. 23)