John J. Gilbert
Professor Emeritus
Appointments
Professor Emeritus of Biological Sciences
Biography
Research Interests:
I. Primarily, the biology and ecology of freshwater and planktonic monogonont rotifers: environmental and endogenous control of sexual reproduction and diapause in life cycles; developmental polymorphisms (polyphenisms); food niches and predators determining positions of species in food webs; interactions with cladocerans.
II. The biology of freshwater sponges.
Education
B.A. with Honors in Biology, Williams College, 1959
Ph.D. in Biology, Yale University, 1963
Publications
Gilbert, J.J. 2026. Body size and developmental response of a rotifer to the predator Asplanchna. J. Plankton Res. 48: https://doi.org/10.1093/plankt/fbag015
Gilbert, J.J. 2025. Timing of sexual reproduction in rotifer life cycles: generation-based models for environmental and endogenous control. J. Plankton Res. 47:https://doi.org/10.1093/plankt/fbaf063
Gilbert, J.J. and J.V. Trout-Haney. 2025. Gigantism in the rotifer Asplanchna brightwellii: dietary control, reproduction, propensity for sex and ecological significance. J. Plankton Res. 47: https://doi.org/10.1093/plankt/fbaf017
Gilbert, J.J. and J.V. Trout-Haney. 2025. Sexual reproduction in the rotifer Asplanchna brightwellii from a temporary habitat: tests for transgenerational and population-density effects. Freshwat. Biol. 70: https://doi.org/10.1111/fwb.70099
Gilbert, J.J. 2023. Epiphanes brachionus spinosa from a temporary habitat in the Chihuhuan Desert: morphological response to Asplanchna and control of sexual reproduction. Freshwat. Biol. 68: 2175–2183.
Gilbert, J.J. 2022. Food niches of planktonic rotifers: diversification and implications. Limnol. Oceanogr. 67: 2218–225.
Gilbert, J.J. 2020. Variation in the life cycle of monogonont rotifers: commitment to sex and emergence from diapause. Freshwat. Biol. 65: 786–810.
Riessen, H.P. and J.J. Gilbert. 2019. Divergent developmental patterns of induced morphological defenses in rotifers and Daphnia: ecological and evolutionary context. Limnol. Oceanogr. 64: 541–55.
Gilbert, J.J. 2018. Morphological variation and its significance in a polymorphic rotifer: environmental, endogenous, and genetic controls. BioScience 68: 169–181.
Gilbert, J.J. 2017. Non-genetic polymorphisms in rotifers: environmental and endogenous controls, development, and features for predictable or unpredictable environments. Biological Reviews 92: 964–992.
Gilbert, J.J. 2017. Spine development in two taxa of Brachionus calyciflorus from Lake Littra, Australia: constitutive and induced defenses against Asplanchna. J. Plankton Res. 39: 962–971.
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