Zen Faulkes, PhD. Curriculum vitae

Education and Training

Post-doctoral research, supervised by David Macmillan, Zoology,University of Melbourne. 1999-2001.

Post-doctoral research, supervised by Gerald Pollack,Biology, McGill University. 1996-1999.

Ph.D., supervised by Dorothy Paul, Biology, University of Victoria, 1996.

Bachelor of Arts and Science (B.Sc.) with Distinction from University of Lethbridge, 1989. Major in Psychology.

Awards

Selected in The Open Laboratory 2008 competition for best writing in science blogs.

Natural Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Post-doctoral Fellowship. 1999-2000.

Honorable Mention in the Warder Clyde Allee Award, Best Student Paper Session of the Animal Behaviour Society for talk titled, "Sand crab digging: a neuroethological study of the evolution of a 'new' behavior." 25 July 1994.

Research Interests

My research lies at the intersection of three fields of biology:
evolution, behaviour, neurobiology. Much of my research interested in the evolution of behaviour and nervous systems, particularly the origin of new behaviours, the loss of existing behaviours, and how nervous systems change in both cases.

Some of my current lines of research include the loss of escape responses in palinuran crustaceans (slipper lobsters and spiny lobsters), biomechanics of digging, and development of ascidian embryos under stress.

Articles in Journals and Books

Faulkes Z. 2009. How Marmorkrebs can make the world a better place. In: Rohn J (ed.), Grant RP (deputy ed.), Zivkovic B (series ed.), The Open Laboratory: The Best In Science Writing On Blogs 2008, pp. 86-87.

Faulkes Z. 2008. Turning loss into opportunity: The key deletion of an escape circuit in decapod crustaceans. Brain, Behavior and Evolution 72(4): 251-261. http://dx.doi.org/10.1159/000171488

Flores AR, Faulkes Z. 2008. Texture preferences of ascidian tadpole larvae during settlement. Marine and Freshwater Behaviour and Physiology 41(3): 155-159. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10236240802360914

Faulkes Z, Davelos Baines A. 2007. Evolutionary string theory. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 30(3): 369-370.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X07002270

Espinoza SY, Breen L, Varghese N, Faulkes Z. 2006. Loss of escape-related giant neurons in a spiny lobster, Panulirus argus. The Biological Bulletin 211(3): 223-231.
http://www.biolbull.org/cgi/content/abstract/211/3/223

Faulkes Z. 2006. The locomotor toolbox of the spanner crab, Ranina ranina (Brachyura, Raninidae). Crustaceana 79(2): 143-155.

Faulkes Z. 2006. Digging mechanisms and substrate preferences of shovel nosed lobsters, Ibacus peronii (Decapoda: Scyllaridae). Journal of Crustacean Biology 26(1): 69-72.

Lambert G, Faulkes Z, Lambert CC, Scofield VL. 2005. Ascidians of South Padre Island, Texas, with a key to species. Texas Journal of Science 57(3): 251-262.

Faulkes Z. 2004. Mechanisms of behavioral switching. Journal of Comparative Physiology A 191(3): 197-199.

Faulkes, Z. 2004. Mechanisms of behavioral switching. Journal of Comparative Physiology A: in press, published online 21 September 2004.

Faulkes, Z. 2004. Loss of escape responses and giant neurons in the tailflipping circuits of slipper lobsters. Arthropod Structure & Development 33(2): 113-123.

Paul, D.H., Faulkes, Z., & Antonsen, B.L. 2002. Synergies between disparate motor systems: loci for behavioral evolution. In: Crustacean Experimental Systems in Neurobiology (K. Wiese, ed.), pp. 263-282. Springer Verlag: Heidelberg.

Faulkes, Z. & Macmillan, D.L. 2002. Muscle receptor organ ablation speeds non-giant tailflipping in crayfish (Cherax destructor). Marine and Freshwater Behaviour and Physiology: 35(3): 149-155.

Patullo, B.P., Faulkes, Z., & Macmillan, D.L. 2001. Muscle receptor organs do not mediate load compensation during body roll and defense response extensions in the crayfish Cherax destructor. The Journal of Experimental Zoology 290(7): 783-790.

Faulkes, Z. & Pollack, G.S. 2001. Mechanisms of frequency-specific responses of omega neuron 1 in crickets (Teleogryllus oceanicus): a polysynaptic pathway for song? The Journal of Experimental Biology 204(7): 1295-1305.

Faulkes, Z. & Pollack, G.S. 2000. The effects of inhibitory timing on contrast enhancement in auditory circuits in crickets (Teleogryllus oceanicus). Journal of Neurophysiology 84(3): 1247-1255.

Faulkes, Z. & Paul, D.H. 1998. Digging in sand crabs: coordination of joints in individual legs. The Journal of Experimental Biology 201(14): 2139-2149.

Pollack, G. & Faulkes, Z. 1998. Representation of behaviorally relevant sound frequencies by auditory receptors in the cricket Teleogryllus oceanicus. The Journal of Experimental Biology 201(1): 155-163.

Faulkes, Z. & Paul, D.H. 1997. A map of the distal leg motor neurons in the thoracic ganglia of four decapod crustacean species. Brain, Behavior and Evolution 49(3): 162-178.

Faulkes, Z. & Paul, D.H. 1997. Coordination between the legs and tail during digging and swimming in sand crabs. Journal of Comparative Physiology A 180(2): 161-169.

Faulkes, Z. & Paul, D.H. 1997. Digging in sand crabs (Decapoda, Anomura, Hippoidea): interleg coordination. The Journal of Experimental Biology 200(4): 793-805. (Erratum: The Journal of Experimental Biology 200(9))

Faulkes, Z. 1997. Is intelligence inevitable? In: The UFO Invasion: The Roswell Incident, Alien Abductions, and Government Cover-Ups(eds. K. Frazier, B. Karr, & J. Nickell), pp. 303-312. Prometheus Books (US website | UK website): Amherst.

Faulkes, Z. & Paul, D.H. 1992. Connecting invertebrate behavior, physiology and evolution with Eshkol-Wachman movement notation. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 15(2): 276-277.

Faulkes, Z. 1991. Getting smart about getting smarts. The Skeptical Inquirer 15(3): 263-268.

Conference Abstracts

Faulkes Z. 2007. Motor neurons involved in escape responses in white shrimp, Litopenaeus setiferus. Integrative and Comparative Biology 47(Supplement 1): e178. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/icb/icm105

Espinoza SY, Faulkes Z. 2007. Compromised weaponry enhances crayfish tailflipping. Integrative and Comparative Biology 47(Supplement 1): e176. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/icb/icm105

Faulkes Z. 2007. The key deletion of an adaptive neural circuit in decapod crustaceans. Brain, Behavior and Evolution 70(3): 207.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1159/000105462

Faulkes Z. 2005. Do shovel-nosed lobsters shovel with their noses? Integrative and Comparative Biology 45(6): 994.

Espinoza SY, Breen A, Varghese N, Faulkes Z. 2005. Loss of escape-related neurons in spiny lobster (Panulirus argus). Integrative and Comparative Biology 45(6): 1129.

Faulkes, Z. & Macmillan, D.L. 2000. Losing speed to gain control? The influence of muscle receptor organs on tailflipping in crayfish (Cherax destructor). Proceedings of the Australian Physiological and Pharmacological Society 31(2): 44P.

Faulkes, Z. & Pollack, G. 1997. Sound frequency specific responses of cricket omega neuron. Society for Neuroscience Abstracts 23 (2): 1570.

Faulkes, Z. & Paul, D.H. 1995. Sand crab digging: an evolutionary mosaic of disparate ancestral locomotor modules? In: M. Burrows, T. Matheson, P.L. Newland, H. Schuppe (eds.), Nervous Systems and Behaviour. Proceedings of the Fourth International Congress of Neuroethology, pp. 483. Stuttgart: Georg Thieme Verlag.

Faulkes, Z., Paul, D.H. & Pellis, S.M. 1991. Digging by the sand crab Blepharipoda occidentalis. Society for Neuroscience Abstracts17(2): 1245.

Other Articles

Faulkes, Z. 1994. [Review of Anatomy of a Controversy: The Question of a "Language" Among Bees by Adrian M. Wenner & Patrick H. Wells, Columbia University Press.] Animal Behaviour 47(5): 1241-1242.

Faulkes, Z. 1993. Who watches the watchmen? Our animals and ourselves. [Review of The Inevitable Bond by H. Davis & A.D. Balfour (Eds.), Cambridge University Press.] PSYCOLOQUY 4(40): human-animal-bond.4.faulkes.

Faulkes, Z. 1991. Visions of a crowded universe. Rational Enquirer (B.C. Skeptics newsletter).

Professional Affiliations

National Center for Science Education
Center for Subtropical Studies
Society for the Study of Evolution
International Society of Astacology

Animal Behavior Society
International Society for Neuroethology
Society for Neuroscience
J.B. Johnston Club
Behavioral and Brain Sciences Associate

The Crustacean Society
Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience
Sigma Xi
Texas Academy of Science