Prof. John C. Wingfield

Profile Introduction

Research focuses on how animals (mostly birds) deal with a changing environment and organize their life cycles accordingly. A changing environment involves the predictable (e.g. night and day, seasons, tides) and the unpredictable (e.g. severe storms, drought, human disturbance). We are particularly interested in how animals perceive the environment (and what cues they use to time the stages of the life cycle), the neural pathways by which those signals are transduced into neuroendocrine and endocrine secretions, and the mechanisms by which these hormones regulate morphology, physiology and behavior.

Degrees

2015    Honorary Fellowship, Bangor University, Wales, UK

2010    Honorary Doctor of Science        University of Sheffield
1998    Doctor Honoris Causa        University of Gothenburg, Sweden
1973    PhD    (Zoology and Comparative Endocrinology)    University College of North Wales
1970    BS    (Zoology)    University of Sheffield

Research Interests

Environmental endocrinology

My laboratory focuses on the neural and endocrine mechanisms underlying organism-environment interactions. We are particularly interested in the neural pathways for environmental signals affecting seasonality, mechanisms of coping with environmental stress (allostasis), and the social modulation of hormone secretion. This research also interfaces with how animals deal with global climate change, endocrine disruption and conservation biology.

Awards

Association for the Study of Animal Behavior Medal, 2003.

Benjamin Meaker Fellowship, University of Bristol (1993-1994).

Charles H. Revson Fellow in Biomedical Research, Rockefeller University (1981).

Charles H. Revson Fellow in Biomedical Research, Rockefeller University (1981).

Corresponding Fellow of the Deutsche Ornithologen Gesellshaft.

Doctor Honoris Causa, from the Faculty of Science, Göteborg University, Sweden, 1998.

Donald. S. Farner Medal, International Symposium of Avian Endocrinology, 1996.

Elective Member, American Ornithologist's Union (1983).

Elliot Coues Award of the American Ornithologist's Union (1987).

Endowed Chair in Physiology, University of California, Davis. 2007-

Fellow, American Ornithologist's Union (1989).

Fellow, Animal Behavior Society, 1997

John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship (1993-1994).

Russell F. Stark University Professor, University of Washington, 1996-2001.

Shannon Award, National Institutes of Health (1992-1994).

The Marsha L. Landolt Distinguished Graduate Mentor Award, Honorable Mention, University of Washington, 2004

The Quest Award, from the Animal Behavior Society, 1996.

Animal Behavior Society Exemplar Award (2009)

Invited autobiography for “Leaders in Animal Behavior, Second Generation”. Cambridge University Press, (2009).

Selected for “Profiles in Comparative Endocrinology” – special issue in featuring my research and papers by former students and postdoctoral fellows. General and Comparative Endocrinology, 2008.

President, Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, January 2003-2005.

President, XXV International Ornithological Congress, 2006-2010.

First Sinauer Lecture, University of Massachusetts, February 2007. Endowed Chair in Physiology, University of California, Davis. 2007- Selected for “Profiles in Comparative Endocrinology” – special issue featuring my research and papers by former students and postdoctoral fellows. General and Comparative Endocrinology, 2008. The Exemplar Award, Animal Behavior Society, for long term contribution to the study of animal behavior (2009). Invited autobiography for “Leaders in Animal Behavior, Second Generation”. Cambridge University Press, (2009). Honorary Doctor of Science Degree, University of Sheffield, July 2010. John T. Emlen Lecture, University of Wisconsin, October 2010. Elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, December, 2010. Howard Bern Lecture, Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, Salt Lake City, Utah. January 2011. Distinguished Professor, University of California at Davis, Department of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior. June, 2011. Center for the Integrative Study of Animal Behavior Exemplar Award. Indiana University, 2012. Keck Distinguished Lecturer, North Carolina State University, November 2012. Special Symposium on Environmental Endocrinology in honor of the 65th. birthday of John C. Wingfield. Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology annual meeting, Austin, Texas, January 2014. Invited testimony on the BRAIN Initiative representing the National Science Foundation to the USA House of Representatives, Appropriations Sub-Committee, February 2014. Elected Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, April 2014. E.O. Wiley Lecture, Sam Houston State University, October, 2014.

ProfessionalSocieties

American Association for the Advancement of Science

American Ornithologist's Union

Animal Behavior Society

Asia and Oceania Society for Comparative Endocrinology

Association of Field Ornithologists

British Trust for Ornithology

Cooper Ornithological Society

Endocrine Society (U.K.)

Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology

Society for Comparative and Integrative Biology

Wilson Ornithological Society

CBS Grad Group Affiliations

Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Physiology

Animal Behavior

Specialties / Focus

Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Physiology

• Comparative Physiology
• Endocrinology
• Reproductive Physiology
• Behavioral Physiology

Graduate Groups not Housed in CBS

Exercise Science

Ecology Graduate Group

Labs

Wingfield Lab

• Paulina González-Gómez

Wingfield lab

• Marilyn Ramenofsky

Field Sites

University of California, Davis, Natural Reserve system

Toolik Lake Field Station, Alaska

Latitudinal and altitudinal gradients in Chile, South America

Teaching Interests

Environmental endocrinology Techniques in environmental physiology and endocrinology Comparative biology of stress Physiology

Courses

NPB 142 Environmental Endocrinology: Mechanisms for Life Cycles (Winter)

NPB 101 Human Physiology (Fall)