Research Interests

I am interested in the evolution of physiological and morphological systems and in their adaptations to diverse environmental factors, particularly temperature. My research has examined organismal energetics, performance capacities, and thermoregulation and has attempted to uncover the functional bases of organism-level performance at both the enzymatic and systemic (e.g., muscular, circulatory) levels. Most of my research has concentrated on reptiles and amphibians, in which limited capacities of oxygen uptake and poikilothermy create interesting adaptive patterns in behavior and energy allocation that are quite distinct from those of endotherms. I have in addition done physiological research on fish, birds, and mammals. I also utilize bacteria to study the processes and consequences of both evolutionary and phenotypic adaptation to novel thermal environments. My current research projects include examinations of the plasticity of cardiopulmonary function in reptiles and the evolution of thermal adaptation in experimental evolutionary lineages of bacteria.

Degrees

1966 A.B. in Zoology University of California, Riverside
1971 Ph.D. in Zoology University of Michigan

Honors and Awards

1971-73 Miller Research Fellowship, U.C. Berkeley
1978-83 National Institutes of Health Career Development Award
1981 Elected Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science
1989-90 Irvine Faculty Research Fellowship
1994 Elected Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
2002 August Krogh Distinguished Lecturer, American Physiological Society

Current Graduate Students

Eric Britt B.A., Univ. of California, Davis, 2002
Jesse Hollister, Cal State Sonoma, 2003
Brad Hughes, UCI, 2003

Recent Graduates of the Lab

Current Post-docs

Suzanne Munns Ph.D., LaTrobe Univ., Australia, 2002
Nancy Aguilar. Ph.D., Univ. Calif. San Diego, 2000

Recent Courses Taught

Bio. Sci. 109 Physiology
Bio. Sci. 199 Undergraduate Research
E&E Biol. 200 Research in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
E&E Biol. 208 Special Topics in Organismal Biology & Physiology
E&E Biol. 210ABC Foundations of Physiology
Bio Sci 2A Freshman Seminars
Bio Sci H90 The Idiom and Practice of Science

Links

Personal Website

Graduate Program in Evolutionary and Comparative Physiology

Recent Papers

Bennett, A. F. 2003. Experimental evolution and the Krogh Principle: Generating biological novelty for functional and genetic analyses. Physiol. Biochem. Zool. 76: 1-11.

Riehle, M. M., A. F. Bennett, R. E. Lenski, and A. D. Long. In press. Evolutionary changes in heat-inducible gene expression in Escherichia coli lines evolved at high temperature. Physiol. Genomics.

Bennett, A. F., J. W. Hicks, and A. J. Cullum. 2000. An experimental test of the thermoregulatory hypothesis for the evolution of endothermy. Evolution 54: 1768-1773.

Riehle, M. M., A. F. Bennett, and A. D. Long. 2001. Genetic architecture of thermal adaptation in Escherichia coli. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 98: 525-530.

Bennett, A. F., and J. W. Hicks. 2001. Postprandial exercise: Prioritization or additivity of the metabolic responses? J. exp. Biol. 204: 2127-2132.

Cullum, A. J., A. F. Bennett, and R. E. Lenski. 2001. Evolutionary Adaptation to Temperature. IX. Preadaptation to novel stressful environments of Escherichia coli adapted to high temperature. Evolution 55: 2194-2202.

O'Steen, S., A. J. Cullum, and A. F. Bennett. 2002. Rapid evolution of escape performance in Trinidadian guppies (Poecilia reticulata). Evolution 56: 776-784.