Research Areas

Organismal Biology and Behavior

Duke's Biology Department has a strong history of research and training in organismal biology and behavior. Physiology, comparative biomechanics, developmental biology, paleontology and macroevolution, neurobiology and behavioral ecology are all well-represented, with faculty working in diverse systems (both plant and animal) and on a large range of interesting problems in these fields. Organismal biology underlies and connects with essentially all major disciplines in biology, so faculty and students in this group have strong intellectual ties across the department.

Susan C Alberts, Associate Professor
Behavorial ecology of large mammals

Sonke Johnsen, Associate Professor
Comparative physiology; focusing on vision, crypsis, optics, and bioluminescence in the open ocean

Peter H Klopfer, Professor Emeritus
animal behavior and behavioral ecology

Manuel Leal, Assistant Professor
Behavioral and Evolutionary Ecology of Lizards, Animal Communication

Stephen Nowicki, Professor of Biology and Dean of Undergraduate Education
Ecology, evolution and mechanisms of animal communication

John Staddon, James B Duke Prof. of Psych. & Brain Sciences and Professor

Vance A Tucker, Professor Emeritus

Steven Vogel, Research Professor
Life in moving fluids

Stephen A. Wainwright, James B. Duke Professor Emeritus
Biomechanics; Design in organisms and engineering

Robert B. Jackson, Professor
Physiological and ecosystem ecology; biogeochemistry

Daniel A. Livingstone, James B Duke Professor Emeritus and Research Professor

Daniel W McShea, Associate Professor
Macroevolution, paleobiology, philosophy of biology

Kathleen K Smith, Professor and Director, National Evolutionary Synthesis Center
Functional morphology and evolution of vertebrates; craniofacial development, evolutionary morphology

Richard A White, University Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus
Comparative anatomy of vascular plants

William Wilson, Associate Professor
Theoretical ecology and evolution

V. Louise Roth, Associate Professor
Morphological and molecular evolution in mammals: size, shape, and ontogeny

H Frederik F. Nijhout, Professor
Developmental physiology/development and evolution

Marcy K Uyenoyama, Professor
Population genetics, molecular evolution