Deborah
E. Shelton
Email:
dshelton@email.arizona.edu
Current
position: PhD student, Michod
Lab, Department
of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona,
Tucson, AZ
Research
Interests
Volvox
carteri
 |
I
am interested
in two of life’s contrasting basic properties: its individuality
and
its sociality. Social interactions at one hierarchical level
can
lead to the evolution of individuality at a higher level.
Such
evolutionary transitions in individuality have given rise to nested
levels, the basis for much of life's complexity. The
principles
important during evolutionary transitions in individuality (e.g.
cooperation, conflict, conflict mediation, and selection at multiple
levels) have general importance and apply to countless cases, from
cancerous somatic cells to social animal behavior. My
research
explores the relationship between cell- and colony-level fitness in the
volvocince green algae (Volvox
and
its relatives). These freshwater, motile algae are a model
system
for the evolution of development and for major evolutionary transitions.
Education
Publications
- Shelton, D.E. and R.E.
Michod (In Press) Philosophical
foundations
for the hierarchy of life (Book review of Evolution
and
the Levels of Selection
by Samir Okasha).
Biology and
Philosophy DOI
10.1007/s10539-009-9160-3. pdf
- Shelton, D. E., A. D. Harlin-Cognato,
R. Honeycutt, T. Markowitz, and B. Würsig (2009) Sexual
segregation and genetic relatedness in New Zealand dusky dolphin
social groups. In Dusky
Dolphins: Master Acrobats Off Different
Shores (Eds. B. Würsig and M. Würsig) Academic
Press. pdf
- Pearson, H. C. and D. E. Shelton (2009) A large-brained social
animal. In Dusky
Dolphins: Master
Acrobats Off Different Shores (Eds. B. Würsig and M.
Würsig)
Academic Press. pdf
- Vaughn, R.L., D.E. Shelton,
L. L. Timm, L. A. Watson, and
B. Würsig (2008) Dusky
dolphins influence prey accessibility for
seabirds in Admiralty
Bay, New
Zealand. Journal
of Mammalogy
89(4):1051–1058. pdf
- Vaughn, R.L., D.E. Shelton,
L. L. Timm, L. A. Watson, and
B. Würsig (2007) Dusky
dolphin (Lagenorhynchus
obscurus)
feeding
tactics and
multi-species associations. New
Zealand
Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research 41:
391–400. pdf
Selected
Posters
- DNA
repair as a possible evolutionary advantage of sex in a green alga,
Chlamydomonas
reinhardtii (2008) Shelton,
D.E., H. Bernstein, and R. E. Michod. Poster, 13th
International
Conference on
the Cell and Molecular Biology of Chlamydomonas,
Hyères-les-Palmiers, France.
pdf
- Sexual
segregation
and
genetic relatedness in New
Zealand dusky dolphin
social groups
(2007) Shelton,
D.E., A. D. Harlin-Cognato, R. Honeycutt, T. M. Markowitz, B.
Würsig. Poster,
17th Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals, Cape
Town, South
Africa. pdf
Nazca
booby
 |
Selected Teaching
and Outreach
- University
of Arizona
- Guest speaker, siblicide in Nazca boobies (summary of
some work from the Anderson
Lab)
- Booth-Fickett Math/Science
Magnet School, Tucson, AZ
- Texas A&M
University
- Teaching assistant, Introduction to
Ecology Lab
- Nags
Head Dolphin Watch
- Narrator/interpreter for
wild dolphin public tours
Scorpion
stonefish
 |
Selected
Scuba Qualifications
- Dive
Control Specialist (SSI; Desert
Divers,
Tucson AZ )
- Master
Scuba Diver (NAUI)
- Science
Diver (AAUS; Texas
A&M University at Galveston)
- Nitrox (IDEA)
- Cavern
Diver (NSS-CDS)
- Dive
Emergency Specialist
(DAN):
- CPR
& AED
(American Heart Association)
- First
Aid (American Red Cross)
- Oxygen
First Aid
Provider (DAN)
- On-site
Neurological Assessment Provider
(DAN)
- First
Aid for Hazardous Marine Life (DAN)
Organizations
and Links I Like...
- Arizona
Disabled Scuba Divers Foundation promotes opportunities for
disabled people to learn and enjoy scuba diving
- CEDO,
the Intercultural Center for the study of Deserts and Oceans, promotes
research, education and conservation in and around the Gulf of
California
- Free Software
Foundation promotes freedom for software users (i.e. the freedom
to run, copy, distribute, study, change, and improve software)
- KXCI Tucson
community radio station
- MIT Open Courseware course materials available
free online
- Nature
Conservancy works to protect ecologically important areas around
the world
- Seafood Watch provides seafood guides and
information on ocean conservation issues
- WildAid
works towards ending illegal wildlife trade
Seven
Falls,
Bear Canyon, AZ
 |
"Benedicto:
May your
trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most
amazing view. May
your mountains rise into and above the clouds. May your rivers flow
without end, meandering through pastoral valleys tinkling with bells,
past temples and castles and poets towers into a dark primeval forest
where tigers belch and monkeys howl, through miasmal and mysterious
swamps and down into a desert of red rock, blue mesas, domes and
pinnacles and grottos of endless stone, and down again into a deep vast
ancient unknown chasm where bars of sunlight blaze on profiled cliffs,
where deer walk across the white sand beaches, where storms come and go
as lightning clangs upon the high crags, where something strange and
more beautiful and more full of wonder than your deepest dreams waits
for you --- beyond that next turning of the canyon
walls." -- Edward
Abbey
