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Mike Sears
Assistant Professor
Office: 355B Life Science II
Phone: 618-453-4137
email: msears@zoology.siu.edu

Education: Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania; B.S., Biology, Rhodes College

Courses taught: BIOL 308 (Organismal Functional Biology), ZOOL 453 (Physiological Ecology)

Areas of interest: Physiological,Behavioral Ecology & Evolutionary Ecology; Ecological Informatics; Quantitative Ecology; Landscape Ecology; Climate Change

Research in my lab focuses on the physiological ecology, behavioral ecology, and population biology of reptiles and small mammals. I seek to explain landscape-level patterns of the distributions of animals by understanding the basic physiologies and behaviors of individuals. I use an integrative approach to address ecological problems by combining elements not only from physiological and behavioral ecology, but also from new techniques available in Geographic Information Systems (GIS), remote sensing, statistics, and computer science.

For more information on my research program, please see my lab webpage.

Recent Publications

Sears, M, J Diffendorfer, K Lips, J Mendelson. 2008. Amphibian declines and issues of inference: response to Parmesan and Singer. Public Library of Science Biology 14 Apr 2008.

Lips, KR, J Diffendorfer, JR Mendelson, MW Sears. 2008. Riding the wave: Recociling the roles of disease and climate change in amphibian declines. Public Library of Science Biology 6:441-454.

Angilletta, MJ, RS Wilson, AC Niehaus, PL Ribeiro, MW Sears, & CA Navas. 2007. Urban physiology: city ants possess high heat tolerance. Public Library of Science ONE 2:e258.

Tull JC, Sears MW (2007) Moistened seeds increase rodent trap success. Western North American Naturalist 67: 520?523

Sears, MW, JP Hayes, CS O'Connor, K Geluso, and JS Sedinger. 2006. Individual variation in thermogenic capacity affects above-ground activity of high altitude deer mice. Functional Ecology, 20: 97-104.

Sears, MW. 2005. Geographic variation in the life history of the sagebrush lizard: the role of thermal constraints on activity. Oecologia 143: 25-36.

Sears, MW. 2005. Resting metabolic expenditure as a potential source of variation in growth rates of the sagebrush lizard. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part A: Molecular & Integrative Physiology 140: 171-177.

Sears, MW and MJ Angilletta. 2004. Body size clines in Sceloporus lizards: proximate mechanisms and demographic constraints. Integrative and Comparative Biology 44: 433-442.

Angilletta, MJ, CE Oufiero, MW Sears. 2004. Thermal adaptation of maternal and embryonic phenotypes in a geographically widespread ectotherm. Proceedings of the Third International Conference of Comparative Physiology and Biochemistry, International Congress Series 1275: 258-266.

Angilletta MJ, MW Sears, TD Steury. 2004. Temperature, growth rate, and body size in ectotherms: fitting pieces of a life history puzzle. Integrative and Comparative Biology (formerly American Zoologist) 44: 498-509.

Angilletta, MJ, MW Sears. 2004. Evolution of thermal reaction norms for growth rate and body size in ectotherms: an introduction to the symposium. Integrative and Comparative Biology (formerly the American Zoologist) 44: 401-402.

Sears, MW and MJ Angilletta. 2003. Life history variation in the sagebrush lizard (Sceloporus graciosus): phenotypic plasticity or local adaptation? Ecology 84: 1624-1634.

Angilletta, MJ and MW Sears. 2003. Parental care as a selective factor for the evolution of endothermy? American Naturalist 162: 821-825.