Evolutionary biology, population ecology and functional biology of insects

Telephone: (919) 843-6291

E-mail: jgking@bio.unc.edu

Office: 334A Wilson Hall

Mailing Address:
CB# 3280, Coker Hall
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-3280

Selected References | Selection Database

My research is at the interface of environmental physiology and functional morphology with population ecology and evolution, working primarily with insects and the organisms that they eat or that eat them. Researchers in my lab combine laboratory and field experimentation with mathematical modeling to explore the physiology and morphology of individual organisms, and their ecological and evolutionary consequences. Our current research projects include: 1) selection and evolution of morphological and physiological plasticity; 2) nutritional physiology and evolutionary ecology of feeding and growth in caterpillars; 3) patterns of phenotypic selection and fitness surfaces for quantitative traits in natural populations; 4) functional morphology and evolutionary ecology of flight and predator escape in butterflies; and 5) physiological, ecological and evolutionary responses of insects to climate change. I am also interested in the use of new technologies in high school and university education, and in science education for ‘non-science’ students.