Robert E. Ricklefs
Curators' Professor of Biology
Department of Biology, University of Missouri at St. Louis
8001 Natural Bridge Road, St. Louis, MO 63121-4499
Phone: (314) 516-5101
Fax: (314) 516-6233
Email: ricklefs@umsl.edu
Education
A.B., Stanford University, Biology, 1963
Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania, Biology, 1967
Postdoctoral Fellowship, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, 1967-68
Positions
Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, 1968-1972
Associate Professor, Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, 1972-1978
Professor, Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, 1978-1995
Curators’ Professor, Department of Biology, University of Missouri-St. Louis, 1995-
Research Keywords
Evolutionary ecology; avian life-histories; avian demography, including aging;
avian malaria; host-parasite interaction; island biogeography; phylogenetics;
community ecology; historical ecology.
Research Interests
My interests focus on diversity in ecological systems at several levels
of organization and scales of time and space. A long-standing interest is the
evolutionary diversification of avian life histories, emphasizing comparative
and theoretical analyses of variation in life tables, including patterns of
senescence, and physiological and experimental studies of growth, development,
and parental care. On a higher level of ecological organization, I am
interested in the historical development of ecological communities and regional
species richness, using comparative analyses of diversity patterns and
molecular analyses of genetic divergence and phylogenetic relationship. Through
these studies, I would like to understand how factors that promote
diversification, such as selection, speciation, and dispersal, are balanced by
constraints that limit the response to selection or the coexistence of species.
Publication
list
Reprints available as pdf files
Diana Outlaw (Post-doctoral fellow): Phylogeny and population genetics of avian malaria parasites
Juan Martinez (Ph.D. student): Hybridization and speciation in estrildine finches
Alan Cohen (Ph.D. student): Reproductive senescence in birds and mammals
Diego Santiago (Ph.D. student, co-advised by Patty Parker): Malaria in Galápagos doves
BriAnne Addison (Ph.D. student): Disease and life history in birds
Corinne Koslowski (Ph.D. student): Avian development
Toshi Tsunekage (Ph.D. student): Genetics and behavior in hybrid zones
Julia Gray (lab manager)