Jeffrey S. McKinnon
Professor of Biological Sciences, UW-Whitewater
mckinnoj@uww.edu  262-472-6200

 
  

 

Research Interests

1. The Evolution of Reproductive Isolation through Divergent Ecological Selection 

This work is focused on ecology's role, through natural and sexual selection, in the the evolution of reproductive isolation. Our main study organism is the threespine stickleback, in particular stream-resident and anadromous populations from a wide variety of locales. This work has involved a large number of collaborators around the world, but especially Dolph Schluter (U.B.C.) and David Kingsley (Stanford). Two UW-Whitewater students were co-authors on a paper from this research that appeared in Nature.
 

2. Color Polymorphism Maintenance and Speciation 

We have been conducting theoretical, synthetic and empirical work on the maintenance of color polymorphisms and their potential contribution to speciation. Our empirical work focuses mainly on the telmatherinid fishes of Sulawesi’s Malili Lakes (Indonesia).  I feel particularly connected to this place because I first started traveling there as a teenager, to visit two of my uncles who were working at a Canadian mine in the area. I have also become involved in conservation efforts there. Here is a poster we developed for an educational campaign about introduced fishes. Suzanne Gray recently finished a very nice Ph.D. on this system (at Simon Fraser University, British Columbia) with Larry Dill and myself as her co-advisors.


 
 

3. The Evolution of Female Display Traits 

We noticed that many female sticklebacks had conspicuous red throats in one of our study populations and became interested in the evolution of such traits. This is currently the main project for students in my laboratory (although work on the other two areas described above is ongoing). As part of this effort, Katie Peichel (Washington) and I are collaborating on a study of the molecular genetic basis of female coloration that will take advantage of some of the training I have lately received in stickleback genomics.



Other Academic Interests and Responsibilities:
 

1. Undergraduate Research

I direct the Undergraduate Research Program at UWW. My main goals in this work have been to broaden the range of disciplines participating in the program and to increase quality. Toward the latter end, we have added additional Honors in the Major tracks and a new summer program, as well as seeking external funding. Funding has included support from 'WiscAMP,' which has the particular goal of increasing minority graduation rates in STEM fields through paid undergraduate research experiences. Last year, more students traveled to the NCUR (National Council on Undergraduate Research) conference from UWW than from any other school in the nation!

2. Curricular Reform and Innovation

I recently led an NSF-funded 'makeover' of our introductory biology curriculum to refocus it on a series of multi-session, inquiry-based modules. As noted above, I am also involved in the development of Honors tracks, including orally defended undergraduate theses, across UW-Whitewater.

3. Internships

I lead the internship program in my department. I am always on the lookout for new opportunities through which our students can learn about the applications of biology by being involved in them. Please let me know if you have a suggestion.

4. Outreach

In 1999 the UWW Biology Honors Society (BBB) and I began organizing a now annual public lecture on Darwin's Birthday. Since then I have become involved in other outreach activities, including an Earth Day event I help George Savage (Languages and Literature, UWW), the student green club and BBB organize. I have also been heavily involved in efforts led by my UWW colleague Mike Woller to provide science teachers with summer research opportunities.


Laboratory Affiliates and Collaborators:

Mark Blows, University of Queensland (my sabbatical host and one of the most original thinkers I know)    

Suzanne Gray and Larry Dill, Simon Fraser University (Telmatherinidae study--Suzanne now at Queen's)

Fabian Herder, Bonn, and Ulrich Schliewen, Munich (Telmatherinidae study)

Ellis Loew, Cornell University (Telmatherinidae study)

David Kingsley, Stanford University (stickleback research)

Mike Pauers, Medical College of Wisconsin (cichlid sexual selection and speciation)

Katie Peichel, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, U. Washington (stickleback female color study)

Dolph Schluter, University of British Columbia (stickleback research)

Maria Servedio and Amanda Chunco, North Carolina (color polymorphism theoretical model)

Fadly Y. Tantu, Tadulako University, Indonesia (Telmatherinidae study)


 
Some Recent Publications:

Chunco, A., J.S. McKinnon and M. Servedio In press. Microhabitat variation and sexual selection can maintain male color polymorphisms. Evolution.

Gray, S.M. and J.S. McKinnon (corresponding author) 2007. Linking color polymorphism maintenance and speciation. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 22: 71-79.

Gray, S.M., L.M. Dill and J.S. McKinnon 2007. Cuckoldry incites cannibalism: male fish turn to cannibalism when perceived certainty of paternity decreases. American Naturalist 169: 258-263.

Gray, S.M. and J.S. McKinnon 2006. A comparative description of mating behaviour in the endemic telmatherinid fishes of Sulawesi’s Malili Lakes. Environmental Biology of Fishes 75: 471-482.

Pauers, M.J., J.S. McKinnon and T.J. Ehlinger 2004. Directional sexual selection on chroma and within-pattern colour contrast in Labeotropheus fuelleborni. Biology Letters (Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. B, Suppl) 271:S444-S447.

McKinnon, J.S., S. Mori, B. Blackman, L. David, D. Kingsley, L. Jamieson, J. Chou, and D. Schluter 2004. Evidence for ecology’s role in speciation. Nature 429:294-298.

Schluter, D., E.A. Clifford, M. Nemethy and J.S. McKinnon. 2004. Parallel evolution and inheritance of quantitative traits. American Naturalist  163:809-822.

Rush, V.N. , J.S. McKinnon (Corresponding author), M.A. Abney and R.C. Sargent 2003. Reflectance spectra from free-swimming stickleback (Gasterosteus): social context and eye-jaw contrast. Behaviour 140:1003-1019.

McKinnon, J.S and S. Mori 2003. Speciation in the threespine stickleback: a global perspective. In: The stickleback as a model vertebrate for biodiversity research: molecular biology to behavior, ecology and conservation biology. (Editors S. Mori and A. Goto), pp. 154-176. Hokkaido University Press.

McKinnon, J.S. 2002. Aquatic hotspots: speciation in ancient lakes III. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 17:542-543.

McKinnon, J.S. and H. Rundle 2002. Speciation in nature: the threespine stickleback model systems. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 17:480-488.

 McKinnon, J.S., R. F. deMayo, R. Granquist and L. Weggel. 2000. Female red throat coloration in two populations of threespine stickleback.  Behaviour 137:947-963.
 
 

Current Whitewater Lab Members :

Emily Castellanos (WiscAMP, McNair scholar)
Ken Formby (McNair scholar)
Kevin Lane (Business-Science)
 
 

Some Recent UWW Lab Alumni:

Sara Aurit (Pharmacy, University of Wisconsin)
Tim Blenkinsop (New York University, Ph.D. candidate)
Lisa Bowers (post-doctoral fellow, University of California)
Nicole Frey (International Crane Foundation)
Richard Granquist (Indiana University, Ph.D. candidate)
Nick Hamele (science teacher, Fort Atknson High School)
Sam Miller (Indiana U., PhD student)


Some Newspaper Articles about or by our Lab:

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Sulawesi work, August 07

Editorial on teaching evolution, Janesville Gazette September 05

NSF page on stickleback work