Humboldt State University

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General Information

Professor of Zoology
Evolutionary and Developmental Morphology, Herpetology
Phone: (707) 826-4156
Office: Science A 454A
Email: jor1@humboldt.edu
Personal Website: http://www.humboldt.edu/~jor1/

Academic background

• BA (1984) University of California, Santa Cruz
• MA (1986) Harvard University
• PhD (1993) Harvard University

Courses

• Introduction to Human Anatomy
• Human Anatomy
• Comparative Anatomy of the Vertebrates
• General Zoology
• Principles of Animal Development
• History of Biology

Summary of research

My research examines the morphology of amphibian metamorphosis from an evolutionary perspective. I am particularly interested in the origins and diversification of the metamorphic patterns seen in living amphibians. My past work has examined metamorphosis of the skull, but currently I am examining metamorphic changes in the olfactory system, at the gross morphological, histological, and molecular levels. I am also interested in the history, philosophy, and theory of biology, especially evolutionary biology.  My graduate students have worked on a wide variety of topics relating to amphibians, including morphology, population studies, environmental control of neoteny, and chytrid fungal disease.

Sample publications

• Reiss, J. O. and H. L. Eisthen. (2008) Chemical senses: Comparative anatomy and physiology in amphibians. In H. Thewissen and S. Nummela, eds., Sensory Evolution on the Threshold: Adaptations in Secondarily Aquatic Vertebrates. Berkeley: University of California Press.
• Reiss, J.O. (2007) Relative fitness, teleology, and the adaptive landscape. Evolutionary Biology 34: 4-27.
• Nieto, N. C.,  M. A. Camann,  J. E. Foley, and J. O. Reiss.  (2007) Disease associated with integumentary and cloacal parasites in tadpoles of northern red-legged frog Rana aurora aurora.  Diseases of Aquatic Organisms 78: 61-71.
• Stuelpnagel, J. T. and J. O. Reiss. (2005) Olfactory metamorphosis in the Coastal Giant Salamander (Dicamptodon tenebrosus). Journal of Morphology 266:22-45.
• Reiss, J.O. (2005) Natural selection and the conditions for existence: representational vs. conditional teleology in biological explanation. History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 27: 249-280.
• Reiss, J.O. (2003) The phylogeny of amphibian metamorphosis. Zoology 105:85-96.
• Reiss, J. O. (1998) Anuran postnasal wall homology: An experimental extirpation study. Journal of Morphology 238: 343-353.
• Hansen, A., J. O. Reiss, C. L. Gentry, and G. D. Burd. (1998) Ultrastructure of the olfactory organ in the clawed frog, Xenopus laevis, during larval development and metamorphosis. Journal of Comparative Neurology 398: 273-288.
• Reiss, J. O. (1997) Early development of chondrocranium in the tailed frog Ascaphus truei (Amphibia: Anura): implications for anuran palatoquadrate homologies. Journal of Morphology 231: 63-100.

Graduate students

Carrie Sendak

Movement Patterns and Habitat Use of the Northern Red-legged Frog, Rana aurora aurora

Larkin Chases

Olfactory response to food in larval Coastal Giant Salamanders, Dicamptodon tenebrosus

Former students

Noelle Benzekri

Olfactory structure and metamorphosis in the Coastal Tailed Frog, Ascaphus truei

Jeremy Stuelpnagel

Olfactory metamorphosis in the Coastal Giant Salamander, Dicamptodon tenebrosus

Nathan Nieto

Chytridiomycosis in larval Red-legged Frogs in and near Redwood National Park

Stein Coriell

Environmental factors affecting paedomorphosis in the Coastal Giant Salamander

Jason Lowe

Population structure of two sympatric salamanders, Plethodon elongatus and Ensatina eschscholtzii .