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EMAIL: pparker”at”umsl.edu

PHONE: 314-516-7274 (office) 7277 (lab)

EDUCATION:

B.S. Zoology, 1975, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Ph.D. Biology (Behavioral Ecology) 1984, University of North Carolina,

Chapel Hill

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:

2000-present: Des Lee Professor of Zoological Studies, UMSL, and

Senior Scientist, Saint Louis Zoo

2002-2005: Chair, Department of Biology, UMSL

1991-2000: Assistant and then Associate Professor, Ohio State University

1985-1991: Visiting Scholar, Research Scientist, Purdue University

RESEARCH INTERESTS:

Behavioral ecology: We are interested in the behavioral and evolutionary ecology of natural populations, and how behavioral processes impact individual fitness and population viability. We study the intersection of characteristics of individual organisms and population-level processes, ranging from behavioral correlates of mating, reproductive success, and more recently, to genetic differentiation among populations and transmission of disease. Currently, many of our studies take place on the Galápagos Islands, where the fairly simply ecologies of different islands present a “natural laboratory” for investigations of the ecological and behavioral components of fitness.

Disease ecology: In addition, we are always interested in applying our improved understanding of population dynamics to conservation of threatened populations. With the Saint Louis Zoo’s WildCare Institute, our UMSL research group has undertaken a collaboration to survey diseases of the endemic and introduced avifauna of the Galápagos Islands, in collaboration with the Charles Darwin Foundation and the Galápagos National Park. The list of selected publications below and the full list available through the link will reveal this important interaction. We are finding pathogens of three broad categories: (1) those that seem to have arrived with the colonizing ancestors of the current endemic fauna and diversified alongside their hosts; (2) those that are more recent arrivals, perhaps through introduced or domestic animals; and (3) those that may have jumped from one host lineage to another since their arrival in the islands. These data, especially when combined with population genetic data on current and historic movement of host populations among islands, provide managers with important information on current threats and possibilities for remediation, as well as many opportunities for studies of interest to basic science.