Michael R. Rose
Professor, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Charle Dunlop School of Biological Sciences
Charle Dunlop School of Biological Sciences
PH.D., University of Sussex (U.K.)
University of California, Irvine
497 SH
Mail Code: 2525
Irvine, CA 92697
497 SH
Mail Code: 2525
Irvine, CA 92697
Research Interests
Evolution of life-histories, genetic systems
Academic Distinctions
Appointments
Research Abstract
My major research interest is the evolution of life-history characters. This subsumes problems relating to the evolution of fitness, the evolution of aging, and the physiological genetics of fitness characters. My system for the study of these problems is Drosophila melanogaster, the common laboratory fruit fly. Most of the techniques that we use in our experiments derive from quantitative genetics, but recently we have been adding biochemical genetic methods to our experimental program, thanks to collaborations with Francisco J. Ayala and James E. Fleming. A central feature of our research has been the creation of stocks with altered fitness characters by selection. We have stocks with postponed aging, enhanced early reproduction, increased resistance to environmental stresses, and so on. Much of our work concerns the genetic basis of the differentiation of these stocks.
We have been particularly concerned with the nature of the relationship between fitness and aging. We have accumulated a great deal of evidence which suggests that fitness and aging often have an antagonistic evolutionary relationship: postponing aging seems to require reduced early reproduction while enhanced early fertility appears to diminish later survival. We have identified a set of characters that seems to underlie this trade-off: early fecundity, early ovary weight, lipid content, and resistance to starvation. However, there are some fitness characters for which such trade-offs do not appear to arise.
We also have been concerned with the mechanistic basis of these interconnections between life-history characters. Work in my laboratory has led to evidence that energetic metabolism is crucial to the evolution of fitness characters, and we hope to analyze the role of specific catabolic enzymes in more detail. I believe that there is a great need for a new integration of physiology and evolutionary biology.
I have a number of other research interests. I am beginning a collaboration with Laurence D. Mueller on the role of multiple "adaptive peaks" in the evolution of Drosophila. Our interest is in seeing which of R.A. Fisher and S. Wright is more correct with respect to the pattern of adaptive evolution. Is there convergence to a single "adaptive peak" by all populations of a species when they are exposed to a common environment? Or is there divergence of outcome due to a complex "adaptive landscape"? I also am working with Richard E. Lenski on analogous "multiple peak" research with Escherichia coli. In addition to these experimental programs, I have ongoing theoretical interests in the evolution of sex and the evolution of human behavior.
We have been particularly concerned with the nature of the relationship between fitness and aging. We have accumulated a great deal of evidence which suggests that fitness and aging often have an antagonistic evolutionary relationship: postponing aging seems to require reduced early reproduction while enhanced early fertility appears to diminish later survival. We have identified a set of characters that seems to underlie this trade-off: early fecundity, early ovary weight, lipid content, and resistance to starvation. However, there are some fitness characters for which such trade-offs do not appear to arise.
We also have been concerned with the mechanistic basis of these interconnections between life-history characters. Work in my laboratory has led to evidence that energetic metabolism is crucial to the evolution of fitness characters, and we hope to analyze the role of specific catabolic enzymes in more detail. I believe that there is a great need for a new integration of physiology and evolutionary biology.
I have a number of other research interests. I am beginning a collaboration with Laurence D. Mueller on the role of multiple "adaptive peaks" in the evolution of Drosophila. Our interest is in seeing which of R.A. Fisher and S. Wright is more correct with respect to the pattern of adaptive evolution. Is there convergence to a single "adaptive peak" by all populations of a species when they are exposed to a common environment? Or is there divergence of outcome due to a complex "adaptive landscape"? I also am working with Richard E. Lenski on analogous "multiple peak" research with Escherichia coli. In addition to these experimental programs, I have ongoing theoretical interests in the evolution of sex and the evolution of human behavior.
Publications
M.R. Rose. 1998. Darwin's Spectre, Evolutionary Biology in the Modern World. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J.
M.R. Rose and G.V. Lauder, Editors. 1996. Adaptation. Academic Press, New York.
M.R. Rose and C.E. Finch, Editors. 1994. Genetics and Evolution of Aging. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, the Netherlands.
M.R. Rose. 1991. Evolutionary Biology of Aging. Oxford University Press, New York.
M.R. Rose. 1987. Quantitative Ecological Theory: An Introduction to Basic Models. Croom Helm: Beckenham, Kent; Johns Hopkins Univ. Press.
Link to this profile
https://faculty.uci.edu/profile/?facultyId=2698
https://faculty.uci.edu/profile/?facultyId=2698
Last updated
02/22/2002
02/22/2002