Jessica A. Bolker Associate Professor, Department of Zoology Associate Director, Shoals Marine Laboratory email: jbolker@cisunix.unh.edu office phone: 603.862.0071 fax: 603.862.3784 snail mail: Department of Zoology, 216 Rudman Hall, 46 College Road, Durham, NH 03824

Theoretical issues in evolutionary developmental biology

Much of my work focuses on theoretical issues at the intersection of evolution, ecology, and development. Particular interests include the role of environmental factors in development, and the evolved nature of organismal responses, modularity, and the uses of model systems in developmental biology.

Fictional species

Several current projects center on the nature and functions of invented (“fictional”) species in both scientific research, and the teaching of evolutionary biology.

• "Embodying imagination: fictional species in real science": panel presentation at the July 2005 meeting of ISHPSSB.
• "Using fictional species to teach real science" (abstract): poster presentation at the January 2006 meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology (pdf).
• Download a pdf of the fictional species writing assignment used in the evolutionary biology course I co-teach at UNH. Please email me if you try a similar assignment with your students, and let me know what happens!

Volvocalean algae, cancer paradigms and stem cells

I am interested in the common themes that underlie biological phenomena ranging from the origins of multicellularity, through the control of differentiation in the human body. I have worked on these issues with members of the Model Systems Strategic Research Network (part of the Canadian Stem Cell Research Network, and pulled some of them together in a symposium talk at the Developmental Basis of Evolutionary Change meeting at the University of Chicago in October 2005 (abstract pdf).

Fish development

Research in my lab has centered on early embryology (Martinez and Bolker, 2003), pigmentation and skeletal development in summer flounder (Paralichthys dentatus). Pigmentation defects are common in hatchery-reared flatfishes, and represent both a significant economic cost to the aquaculture industry and an obstacle to potential future stock enhancement efforts based on release of hatchery-reared juveniles. However, underlying developmental defects remain poorly understood (Bolker and Hill, 2000). We have documented both normal patterns of pigmentation development, and the ways in which development is perturbed in malpigmented fish (Bolker, Hakala and Quist, 2005). An experimental study supported by NH Sea Grant examined the effects of retinoic acid exposure on pigmentation, growth, and skeletal development (Martinez, Baron and Bolker, in press).

The embryology of sturgeons (Bolker, 2004), and the evolution of fish gastrulation in general, remain areas of interest though not of current research.

The PHYLS (PHYsics for Life Sciences) project

Dr. Dawn Meredith and I are collaborating to strengthen the connections between physics and biology in Physics 401-402, the introductory physics course taken by most life-science majors at UNH. We will begin co-teaching the course in AY 2007-2008.

For examples of biomechanics/biophysics teaching materials, check out the SICB Digital Library which includes locomotion and fracture mechanics activities I’ve developed for past biomechanics courses at UNH.

Selected Publications

• Bolker, J.A. 1993. Gastrulation and mesoderm morphogenesis in the white sturgeon. Journal of Experimental Zoology 266:116-131.



• Bolker, J.A. 1993. The mechanism of gastrulation in the white sturgeon. Journal of Experimental Zoology 266:132-145.



• Collazo, A., J. Bolker, and R. Keller. 1994. A phylogenetic perspective on teleost gastrulation. American Naturalist 144:133-152.



• Bolker, J.A. 1994. Comparison of gastrulation in frogs and fish. American Zoologist 34:313-322.



• Bolker, J.A. 1995. Model systems in developmental biology. BioEssays 17(5):451-455.



• Bolker, J.A. and R.A. Raff. 1996. Developmental genetics and traditional homology. BioEssays 18:489-494.



• Bolker, J.A. 2000. Evolutionary developmental biology: developmental and genetic mechanisms of evolutionary change. Encyclopedia of Life Sciences and Technology, Macmillan.



• Bolker, J.A. and C.R. Hill. 2000. Pigmentation development in hatchery-reared flatfishes. Journal of Fish Biology 56:1029-1052.



• Gilbert, S.F. and J.A. Bolker. 2001. Homologies of process: modular elements of embryonic construction. Journal of Experimental Zoology - Molecular and Developmental Evolution 291:1-12.



• Bolker, J.A. 2001. Modularity in development and why it matters to evo-devo. American Zoologist 40:770-776.



• Martinez, G.M. and J.A. Bolker. 2003. Embryonic and larval staging of summer flounder, Paralichthys dentatus. Journal of Morphology 255:162-176.



• Gilbert, S.F. and J.A. Bolker. 2003. Ecological developmental biology: preface to the symposium. Evolution & Development 5:3-8.



• Gass, G. and J.A. Bolker. 2003. Modularity. pp. 260-267 in Keywords and Concepts in Evolutionary Developmental Biology, B.K. Hall and W.M. Olson, eds. Harvard University Press.



• Bolker, J.A. 2003. From genotype to phenotype: looking into the black box. pp. 82-91 in On Growth, Form and Computers, S. Kumar and P. Bentley, eds. Elsevier.



• Bolker, J.A. 2004. Embryology. pp. 134-146 in Sturgeons and Paddlefish of North America, G. LeBreton, F. Beamish and R. McKinley, eds. Kluwer Academic Publishers.



• Bolker, J.A., T.F. Hakala, and J.E. Quist. 2005. Pigmentation development, defects, and patterning in summer flounder (Paralichthys dentatus). Zoology 108:183-193.



• Bolker, J.A. 2005. Defining a meeting place: modularity in development and evolution. (Book review). Evolution 59(6):1383-1386.



• J.A. Bolker, G.M. Martinez, and M.P. Baron. 2007. Skeletal and pigmentation defects following retinoic acid exposure in larval summer flounder (Paralichthys dentatus). Journal of the World Aquaculture Society, in press.

Education

University of California, Berkeley, CA, Ph.D. in Zoology, 1993
Yale University, New Haven, CT, B.S. magna cum laude in Biology, 1986

Courses Taught

Marine Immersion (Zoology 410) - a new course for incoming freshmen at the Shoals Marine Lab

offered August 20-27, 2007

Dogs to Dragons: Origins of Species (Inquiry 444H; Zoology 444H); the last item on this page (Fall 2006)

Evolution (Zoology 690); co-taught with Dr. J. Burger (1999, 2001, 2003, 2005)

next offered Fall 2007

Developmental Biology (Zoology 529) (2000-2006)

Spring 2007

Developmental Biology of Vertebrates (Zoology 629, 729/829)

no longer offered

Biomechanics, Biophysics (Zoology 515, 516); co-taught with Dr. K. Carleton (1998)

no longer offered

Biomechanics (Zoology 415) (2006)

no longer offered

Graduate seminars (Zoology 997):

Ecological Developmental Biology

Development and Evolution

Scientific Communication; co-taught with Drs. M. Scott and C. Gannett

Darwin reading group

Writing and Publishing in Science (2006, 2007)

next offered Fall 2007

Physics 401-402

next offered 2007-2008

In keeping with the broad mission of the Institute for the Development and Evolution of Wet Animals graduate and undergraduate research in my lab involves diverse organisms and questions.

Undergraduate projects:

• differentiation and patterning of flounder pigment cells (T.F. Hakala, J.E. Quist)
• histology and ultrastructure of flounder skin (B. Elwell, A. Van Cise)
• development of flounder squamation and asymmetry (D.M. Boynton)
• Daphnia developmental plasticity (K. Hinz, L. Dunner, L. Bousquet)

R. Craig Albertson, Ph.D. 2002 biology.syr.edu/albertson

Morphometric and QTL analyses of cichlid jaw morphology

 

Gabriela M. Martinez, Ph.D. 2004 gabriela@cisunix.unh.edu

Studies of muscle ontogeny and function in larval squids

 

Michael P. Baron, M.S. 2003

Effects of retinoic acid on flounder development

 

Erica L. Westerman, M.S. 2007 erica.westerman@unh.edu

Ascidian reproduction; temperature effects on the asexual and sexual reproduction rates of invasive ascidians

Other Roles