Difference between revisions of "Kurt Schwenk"

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Schwenk, K. and G. P. Wagner. ''Evolutionary Constraint''. Princeton Univ. Press. (in preparation)<br><br>
 
Schwenk, K. and G. P. Wagner. ''Evolutionary Constraint''. Princeton Univ. Press. (in preparation)<br><br>
  
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'''EDITED COMPILATION:'''<br><br>
 
'''EDITED COMPILATION:'''<br><br>

Revision as of 21:36, 5 May 2008

Professor

Contact Information

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Office: BioPharmacy 600
Voice: (860) 486-0351
Fax: (860) 486-6364
E-mail: kurt.schwenk@uconn.edu

Home page:
under construction

Mailing address:
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
University of Connecticut
75 N. Eagleville Road, U-3043
Storrs, CT 06269

Major Research Interests

Cooperhead (Agkistrodon contortrix) tongue-flicking. Photo by K. Schwenk and C. Smith.
  • Phenotypic evolution
  • Evolutionary constraint
  • Evolutionary and functional morphology of vertebrates
  • Evolutionary and functional morphology of feeding in tetrapod vertebrates, especially squamate reptiles (lizards and snakes)
  • Evolutionary and functional morphology of chemoreception in squamate reptiles
  • Evolutionary and functional morphology of the vertebrate tongue

My research program is three-pronged: I pursue empirical studies related to the functional and evolutionary morphology of squamate feeding and chemoreception and theoretical work related to phenotypic evolution and evolutionary constraint. Feeding and chemoreception are functionally and evolutionarily related in squamates owing to their shared use of a single, complex organ, the tongue. From a biomechanical point of view, a tongue form optimized for feeding function makes optimization for (vomeronasal) chemosensory function virtually impossible, and vice versa. Thus, there is an evolutioinary 'tension' between the two principal sources of selection pressure on the tongue and phylogenetic analysis reveals how each major clade of squamates has found a unique 'solution' to this evolutionary problem. It is the dynamic nature of this evolutionary tension that has led to my theoretical work on evolutionary constraint. Feeding and chemosensory systems character comlexes that manifest the system-level properties of 'hierarchy', 'functional integration', 'internal selection', 'trade-off' and 'emergence', and it is these attributes that make them amenable to theoretical analysis and generalization.

Information for Potential Graduate Students

Happy graduate student, Tobias Landberg, in the lab
Happy undergraduate student, Leah Brown-Wilusz, with bloodworms in the salamander room

Students in my laboratory develop their own, independent research programs under my supervision. Although I expect there to be some overlap or mutual interest in student projects, I do not require students to work in my specific research areas. Ideally students will incorporate elements of morphology, evolution and function into their projects. Purely ecological or conservation-related projects are discouraged (because they lie outside my areas of expertise), although these can be elements of research program centered on the former topics. Although I am best able to supervise work on squamate reptiles, I am open to projects dealing with any vertebrate group. Although I mostly do laboratory-based work, recent graduate students have included significant field components in their research. Although I prefer to consider doctoral students, doing a Masters is also possible.

The Dept. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at UConn is very integrative and interactive, and there is a great deal of cross-fertilization among labs. The deparment contains 30 full-time faculty all of whom work in the general area of organismal biology. In addition, there are an additional 55 or so biologists in our sister departments of Physiology and Neurobiology, and Molecular and Cell Biology - and this is not to mention a variety of wildlife biologists in the Ag School. Thus, there is virtually no area of expertise unavailable to students when they put together their research advisory committees.

There are seven vertebrate biology faculty in the department (4 herpetology, 2 ornithology, 1 ichthyology) and along with graduate and undergraduate students, constitute a very active and interactive research group. We have informal weekly meetings called 'vertlunch' in which we read and critique recent papers (and laugh a lot) and every Friday at 4:00 the Schwenk and Rubega labs meet for 'beermorph' in which - well, it's pretty self-explanatory.

Sample Lab Publications

Buy it now!

BOOKS:

Schwenk, K. (editor) (2000) Feeding: Form, Function and Evolution in Tetrapod Vertebrates. Academic Press, San Diego. xv + 537 pp.

Schwenk, K. and G. P. Wagner. Evolutionary Constraint. Princeton Univ. Press. (in preparation)

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EDITED COMPILATION:

Schwenk, K., and J. M. Starck (eds.) (2005) Integrative organismal biology: papers in honor of Professor Marvalee H. Wake. Zoology 108(4):261-356.

PAPERS (names in bold are current or former graduate students):

Smith C. F., G. W. Schuett, R. L. Earley, and K. Schwenk. The spatial and reproductive ecology of copperheads, Agkistrodon contortrix (Serpentes: Viperidae), at the northeastern extreme of their range. (submitted)

Filoramo, N., and K. Schwenk. The mechanism of chemical delivery to the vomeronasal organs in squamate reptiles. (submitted)

Sherbrooke, W. C.,* and K. Schwenk.* (2008) Horned lizards (Phrynosoma) incapacitate dangerous ant prey with mucus. Journal of Experimental Zoology A. In press. (*authorship equally shared)

Smith, C. F., K. Schwenk, R. L. Earley and G. W. Schuett (2008) Sexual size dimorphism of the tongue in a North American pitviper. Journal of Zoology 274:367-374.

Schwenk, K. (2008) Comparative anatomy and physiology of chemical senses in non-avian aquatic reptiles. In: Sensory Evolution on the Threshold. Adaptations in Secondarily Aquatic Vertebrates. J. G. M. Thewissen and S. Nummela (eds.). Univ. of California Press, Berkeley. Pp. 65-81.

Eisthen, H., and Schwenk, K. (2008) The chemical stimulus and its detection. In: Sensory Evolution on the Threshold. Adaptations in Secondarily Aquatic Vertebrates. J. G. M. Thewissen and S. Nummela (eds.). Univ. of California Press, Berkeley. Pp. 35-41.

Azizi, E., T. Landberg and R. J. Wassersug (2007) Vertebral function during tadpole locomotion. Zoology 110:290-297.

Schwenk, K.,and M. Rubega (2005) Diversity of vertebrate feeding systems. Pp. 1-41. In: Physiological and Ecological Adaptations to Feeding in Vertebrates. J. M. Starck and T. Wang (eds.). Science Publishers, Enfield, NH.

Schwenk, K., and G. P. Wagner (2004) The relativism of constraints on phenotypic evolution. Pp. 390-408. In: Phenotypic Integration: Studying the Ecology and Evolution of Complex Phenotypes. M. Pigliucci & K. Preston (eds.). Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford.

Landberg, T., J. Mailhot and E.L. Brainerd (2003) Lung ventilation during treadmill locomotion in a terrestrial turtle, Terrapene carolina. Journal of Experimental Biology 206(19): 3391-3404.

Vitt, L. J., E. R. Pianka, W. E. Cooper and K. Schwenk (2003) History and the global ecology of squamate reptiles. American Naturalist 162:44-60.

Schwenk, K., and G. P. Wagner. (2003) Constraint. Pp. 52-61. In: Key Words and Concepts in Evolutionary Developmental Biology. B. K. Hall & W. M. Olson (eds.). Harvard University Press, Cambridge.

Azizi, E., and T. Landberg (2002) Effects of metamorphosis on the aquatic escape response of the two-lined salamander (Eurycea bislineata). Journal of Experimental Biology 205(6): 841-849.

Schwenk, K. (2002) Aristotle’s ghost. Creative Nonfiction No.19:32-40 (Special Issue: “Diversity Dialogues”).

Schwenk, K. (2001) Extrinsic vs. intrinsic lingual muscles: a false dichotomy? Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. (Harvard) 156:219-235.

Schwenk, K., and G. P. Wagner (2001) Function and the evolution of phenotypic stability: connecting pattern to process. American Zoologist 41:552-563.

Schwenk, K. (2001) Functional units and their evolution. Pp. 165-198. In: The Character Concept in Evolutionary Biology. G. P. Wagner (ed.). Academic Press, San Diego.

Schwenk, K. (2000) The apian way: from beehives to burrows, animal building sheds new light on biology. REVIEW OF: The Extended Organism. The Physiology of Animal-Built Structures, by J. Scott Turner. The New York Times Book Review, 10 Dec., p. 37.

Schwenk, K. (2000) Tetrapod feeding in the context of vertebrate morphology. Pp. 3-20. In: Feeding: Form, Function and Evolution in Tetrapod Vertebrates. K. Schwenk (ed.). Academic Press, San Diego.

Schwenk, K. (2000) An introduction to tetrapod feeding. Pp. 21-61. In: Feeding: Form, Function and Evolution in Tetrapod Vertebrates. K. Schwenk (ed.). Academic Press, San Diego.

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Schwenk, K. (2000) Feeding in lepidosaurs. Pp. 175-291. In: Feeding: Form, Function and Evolution in Tetrapod Vertebrates. K. Schwenk (ed.). Academic Press, San Diego.

Wagner, G. P.,* and K. Schwenk* (2000) Evolutionarily Stable Configurations: functional integration and the evolution of phenotypic stability. Pp. 155-217. In: Evolutionary Biology, vol. 31. M. K. Hecht, R. J. MacIntyre & M. T. Clegg (eds.). Kluwer Academic/Plenum Press, New York. (*authorship equally shared)

Pigliucci, M., C. D. Schlichting, C. S. Jones and K. Schwenk (1996) Developmental reaction norms: the interactions among allometry, ontogeny and plasticity. Plant Species Biology 11:69-85.

Dial, B. E., and K. Schwenk (1996) Olfaction and predator detection in Coleonyx brevis (Squamata: Eublepharidae) with comments on the functional significance of buccal pulsing in geckos. J. Exp. Zool. 276:415-424.

Schwenk, K. (1995) Of tongues and noses: chemoreception in lizards and snakes. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 10:7-12.

Schwenk, K. (1995) A utilitarian approach to evolutionary constraint. Zoology 98:251-262.

Schwenk, K., and H. W. Greene (1995) No electrostatic sense in snakes. Nature 373:26.

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Schwenk, K. (1995) The serpent's tongue. Natural History 104:48-55 (April).

Schwenk, K. (1994) Why snakes have forked tongues. Science 263:1573-1577.

Schwenk, K. (1994) Comparative biology and the importance of cladistic classification: a case study from the sensory biology of squamate reptiles. Biological J. Linnean Soc. 52:69-82.

Schwenk, K. (1994) Systematics and subjectivity: the phylogeny and classification of iguanian lizards reconsidered. Herpetological Review 25:53-57.

Schwenk, K. (1993) Are geckos olfactory specialists? J. Zool., Lond. 229:289-302.

Schwenk, K. (1993) The evolution of chemoreception in squamate reptiles: a phylogenetic approach. Brain, Behavior and Evolution 41:124-137.

Schwenk, K., and D. B. Wake (1993) Prey processing in Leurognathus marmoratus and the evolution of form and function in desmognathine salamanders (Plethodontidae). Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 49:141-162.

Schwenk, K. (1988) Comparative morphology of the lepidosaur tongue and its relevance to squamate phylogeny. In: R. Estes & G. Pregill (eds.). Phylogenetic Relationships of the Lizard Families. Stanford Univ. Press, Stanford, 569-598.

Schwenk, K. and D. A. Bell (1988) A cryptic intermediate in the evolution of chameleon tongue projection. Experientia 44:697-700.

Schwenk, K. and H. W. Greene (1987) Water collection and drinking in Phrynocephalus helioscopus: a possible condensation mechanism. J. Herpetology 21:134-139.

Schwenk, K. (1986) Morphology of the tongue in the tuatara, Sphenodon punctatus (Reptilia: Lepidosauria), with comments on function and phylogeny. J. Morphology 188:129-156.

Schwenk, K. (1985) Occurrence, distribution and functional significance of taste buds in lizards. Copeia 1985:91-101.

Jaksic, F. M., and K. Schwenk (1983) Natural history observations on Liolaemus magellanicus, the southernmost lizard in the world. Herpetologica 39:457-461.

Bemis, W., K. Schwenk and M. H. Wake (1983) Morphology and function of the feeding apparatus in Dermophis mexicanus (Amphibia: Gymnophiona). Zool. J. Linn. Soc. 77:75-96.

Jaksic, F. M., H. W. Greene, K. Schwenk and R. L. Seib (1982) Predation upon reptiles in Mediterranean habitats of Chile, California, and Spain: a comparative analysis. Oecologia 53:152-159.

Schwenk, K., S. K. Sessions and D. M. Peccinini-Seale (1982) Karyotypes of the basiliscine lizards Corytophanes cristatus and Corytophanes hernandesii, with comments on the relationship between chromosomal and morphological evolution in lizards. Herpetologica 38:493-501.