V. Louise Roth, Associate Professor of Biology and Evolutionary Anthropology

Contact Info:

Office Location:	241 Bio Sci Building
Office Phone:	919-660-7352, 919-660-7353
Email Address:

Teaching (Fall 2012):

• EVANTH 588S.01, MACROEVOLUTION Synopsis

  Bio Sci 155, TuTh 03:05 PM-04:20 PM

Specialties:

Evolution
Developmental Biology
Organismal Biology and Behavior
Systematics

Research Interests: Morphological and molecular evolution in mammals: size, shape, and ontogeny

In addition to conceptual work on the biological bases of homology, variation, and parallel evolution, my research has focused on evolutionary changes in size and shape in mammals: the functional consequences of these changes, and the evolutionary modifications of ontogenetic processes that produce them. This work makes use of DNA sequences, morphometric data, and geographic distributions to study macroevolutionary changes within a phylogenetic context. Projects have included DNA sequence phylogenies of squirrels, experimental work on prenatal maternal effects on body size in large insular deermice, and morphometric studies of growth in elephants, dwarfism in an insular (Pleistocene) dwarf mammoth, and gigantism in insular deermice.

Representative Publications   (More Publications)   (search)

1. K.-J. Chi and V.L. Roth, Scaling and mechanics of carnivoran footpads reveal the principles of footpad design, Journal of the Royal Society Interface, vol. 7 (2010), pp. 1145-1155 (with 18 pp of Electronic Supplementary Material.) [doi]  [abs] [author's comments]
2. Siegel, SJ, CM Percopo, KD Dyer, W Zhao, VL Roth, JM Mercer, HF Rosenberg, RNase 1 genes from the Family Sciuridae define a novel rodent ribonuclease cluster., Mammalian Genome, vol. 20 no. 11-12 (December, 2009), pp. 749-757 (DOI: 10.1007/s00335-009-9215-4.)  [abs]
3. Davis, CM & VL Roth, The evolution of sexual size dimorphism in cottontail rabbits (Sylvilagus, Leporidae), Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, vol. 95 (2008), pp. 141-156  [abs]
4. Roth, VL & JM Mercer, Differing rates of macroevolutionary diversification in arboreal squirrels, Current Science, vol. 95 (2008), pp. 857-861  [abs]
5. V.L. Roth, Variation and versatility in macroevolution., in Variation, a Central Concept in Biology, edited by B. HallgrÍmsson & B.K. Hall (2005), pp. 455-474  [author's comments]
6. J.M. Mercer & V.L. Roth, The effects of Cenozoic global change on squirrel phylogeny., Science, vol. 299 (2003), pp. 1568-1572 (Supporting Online Material: www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/ 1079705/DC1.)
7. V.L. Roth, Ecology and evolution of dwarfing in insular elephants, in The World of Elephants: Proceedings of the 1st International Congress, pp. 507-509, edited by G Cavarretta, P Gioia, M Mussi and MR Palombo (2001), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche: Rome
8. V.L. Roth, Character replication, in The Character Concept in Evolutionary Biology, pp. 81-107, edited by GP Wagner (2001), Academic Press