John A. Byers, Ph.D.
College of Science
University of Idaho
Professor
Campus Locations: Moscow
With UI Since 1980
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PhD Zoology, University of Colorado,1980
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MS Zoology, West Virginia University, 1975
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BA Biology, Swarthmore College, 1970
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Animal behavior primarily interested in behavioral development, play, sexual selection and female mate choice
Books
- Byers, J.A. 2012 (in press) . Animal Behavior. A Beginner’s Guide. One World Press.
- Byers, J. A. 2003. Built for Speed. A Year in the Life of Pronghorn. Harvard University Press.
- Bekoff, M. and Byers, J. A. (eds.) 1998. Animal play: evolutionary, comparative, and ecological perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
- Byers, J. A. 1998. American pronghorn: social adaptations and the ghosts of predators past. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Refereed Journal Publications (2006 to Present)
- Byers, J. and Dunn, S. 2012. Bateman in Nature: Predation on Offspring Reduces the Potential for Sexual Selection. Science, in press.
- Dunn, S.J., Clancey, E. Waits, L. P. & Byers, J.A. 2012. Genetic evidence of inbreeding avoidance in pronghorn. Journal of Zoology, 1-8. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.2012.00932.x
- Clancey, E., Dunn, S.J. & Byers, J.A. 2012. Do single point condition measurements predict fitness in
female pronghorn (Antilocapra americana)? Canadian Journal of Zoology 90, 729-735.
- Dunn, S. J., Waits, L. P. & Byers, J. A. 2012. Genetic versus behavioral estimators of the opportunity for sexual selection in the wild. American Naturalist 179, 451-462.
- Dunn, S. J., Clancey, E., Waits, L. P. & Byers, J.A. 2011. Inbreeding depression in pronghorn (Antilocapra amaericana) fawns. Molecular Ecology 20, 4889-4898.
- Barnowe-Meyer, K.K. White, P. J. & Byers, J. A. 2011. Maternal investment by Yellowstone pronghorn following winter habitat deterioration. Western North American Naturalist 71, 222-233.
- Byers, J. A. 2011. Antilocapridae. In: Handbook of Mammals of the World (ed. by D. Wilson). Lynx Publishers.
- Byers, J.A. 2010. The Genial Gene. Deconstructing Darwinian Selfishness. Joan Roughgarden. Integrative and Comparative Biology 49, 718-720.
- Byers, J. A., Hebets, E., & Podos, J. 2010. Female mate choice based upon male motor performance. Animal Behaviour 79, 771-778
- Dunn, S.J., Barnowe-Meyer, K.K., Gebhardt, K. J., Balkenhol, N., Waits, L. P. & Byers, J. A. 2010. Ten polymorphic microsatellite markers for pronghorn (Antilocapra americana). Conservation Genetics Resources DOI 10.1007/s12686-009-9166-9
- Barnowe-Meyer, K.K. White, P. J., Davis, T. L., Smith, D. W., Crabtree, R. L. & Byers, J. A. 2010. Influences of wolves and high-elevation dispersion on reproductive success of pronghorn (Antilocapra americana). Journal of Mammalogy 91, 712-721.
- Barnowe-Meyer, K.K. White, P. J., Davis, T. L. & Byers, J. A. 2009. Predator-specific mortality of pronghorn on Yellowstone’s northern range. Western North American Naturalist 69, 186-194.
- Dunn, S. J & Byers, J.A. 2008. Determinants of survival and fecundity through a population bottleneck in pronghorn (Antilocapra americana). Journal of Mammalogy 89, 1124-1129.
- Byers, J. A. and Waits, L. 2006. Good genes sexual selection in nature. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 103: 16343-16345.
- Byers, J. A. 2006. Is pronghorn fecundity affected by habitat quality? Proceedings of the 22nd Pronghorn Workshop, 22: 27-39.
My research centers on a closed population of pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) on the National Bison Range in Northwestern Montana. Using an eight generation deep pedigree of the entire population, I am evaluating the hypothesis that female choice for good genes in a mate involves choosing those males with the smallest genetic loads for small effect deleterious mutations.
- American Society of Mammalogists
- Animal Behavior Society
- Sigma Xi
- 2008: Named Exemplar by the Animal Behavior Society
- 2007: University of Idaho Annual Award for Research Excellence
- 2001: Elected a Fellow of the Animal Behavior Society
- 1998: The Wildlife Society Book of the Year Award
- 1991: University of Idaho Annual Award for Teaching Excellence
- 1990: Alumni Award for Faculty Excellence University of Idaho Alumni Association
- 1989: Burlington Northern Foundation Faculty Achievement Award
- 1988: Distinguished Faculty Award, University of Idaho Alumni Association and University of Idaho Chapter of the honor society Phi Kappa Phi
- 1988: Outstanding Faculty Award Associated Students University of Idaho
- 1976: Brookfield Zoo Fellowship for summer research in Animal Behavior