Zoological Endeavors Inspired by A. Richard Palmer: Introduction, Biography, and Bibliography
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Canadian Journal of Zoology Zoological Endeavors Inspired by A. Richard Palmer: Introduction, Biography, and Bibliography Journal: Canadian Journal of Zoology Manuscript ID cjz-2020-0274 Manuscript Type: Editorial Date Submitted by the 17-Nov-2020 Author: Complete List of Authors: Miyashita, Tetsuto; Canadian Museum of Nature Jamniczky, Heather; University of Calgary, Cell Biology & Anatomy Standen, Emily; University of Ottawa, Department of Biology Is your manuscript invited for Draft consideration in a Special Zoological Endeavors Inspired by A. Richard Palmer Issue?: evolutionary biology, bilateral asymmetry, phenotypic plasticity, marine Keyword: ecology, career in biology, Pacific Northwest © The Author(s) or their Institution(s) Page 1 of 54 Canadian Journal of Zoology 1 Zoological Endeavors Inspired by A. Richard Palmer: Introduction, Biography, and 2 Bibliography1 3 4 Tetsuto Miyashita2, Heather A. Jamniczky3, and Emily M. Standen4 5 6 1This editorial introduces a series of invited papers arising from the symposium “Zoological 7 Endeavours Inspired by A. Richard Palmer” that was co-sponsored by the Canadian Society of 8 Zoologists and the Canadian Journal of Zoology and held during the Annual Meeting of the Canadian 9 Society of Zoologists at the University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, 14–16 May 2019. 10 11 2Canadian Museum of Nature, P.O. Box 3443,Draft Station D, Ottawa, ON K1P 6P4, Canada 12 3Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, Cumming School of Medicine, the University of Calgary, 13 Calgary, AB T2X 4N1, Canada 14 4Department of Biology, the University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5, Canada 15 © The Author(s) or their Institution(s) Canadian Journal of Zoology Page 2 of 54 2 16 17 A professorial cowboy-aesthete – the combination seems incongruous yet he was utterly of a 18 piece – taught me how to think about evolution, which is to say about almost everything. 19 Armand Marie Leroi on A. Richard Palmer, from The Lagoon (2014) 20 21 The Professor stood in front of the lecture room, basking in the applause of his colleagues and former 22 students, smiles all around. Underneath his dark jacket was a T-shirt with pictures of curious and 23 puzzling Ediacaran organisms; in his hand, a beer mug engraved with an acorn barnacle reaching out 24 with its feeding legs and penis (Figure 1), with a quote from the letter written by Charles Darwin to 25 Charles Lyell on August 9, 1838: 26 Draft 27 “You will think I have been drinking some strong drink to write so much nonsense, but I did not 28 even taste Minerva's small beer to-day.” 29 30 Dr. A. Richard Palmer has never written ‘so much nonsense’ as to compel him to commiserate in a 31 letter, but he certainly would have qualified for more than just a pint with Darwin in a quaint Downe 32 pub in the mid-1800’s. It stirs one’s imagination to think just what conversation the two might have 33 What a thrill would it be for Darwin to learn that barnacles modify lengths of their legs and penises in 34 response to wave actions, or that they engage in spermcast mating! What would Darwin make of 35 random versus non-random variations of left-right asymmetries, or of larval cloning in echinoderms? 36 And who in the 19th century but Darwin would have seen right away the importance of Rich’s 37 measuring the cost and benefits of different forms of snail shells? It takes little stretch of imagination to 38 picture a nightscape of the pub, a lone lamp burning midnight oil in the slumbering village of Downe, 39 two long shadows cast on the wall, talking intently about slip joints of alpheid shrimps. © The Author(s) or their Institution(s) Page 3 of 54 Canadian Journal of Zoology 3 40 Dr. Allison Richard “Rich” Palmer (Figure 2) retired from the University of Alberta in 2018, as 41 the longest serving active faculty member of the Department of Biological Sciences. Rich assumed his 42 position in 1980 on the heel of a PhD obtained from the University of Washington under the 43 mentorship of Robert T. Paine and, as a supervisory committee member, Richard R. Strathmann (who 44 is also a contributor for this special issue). Growing up a naturalist and training as a marine ecologist, 45 Rich stayed true to his academic roots throughout his career, but also extended branches of his 46 investigation to biomechanics, genetics, and developmental biology, pioneering the now burgeoning 47 fields of phenotypic plasticity and bilateral asymmetries. With the recent foray into bioacoustics 48 (derived from his work on ultrafast movements in marine invertebrates), his horizon continues to 49 expand. Over the four decades at the University of Alberta and Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre, 11 50 postdoctoral scholars, 15 PhD students, 10 DraftMSc students, and more than 40 undergraduate researchers 51 called port at the Palmer lab, eventually sailing on to successful careers and meaningful pursuits. 52 However, Rich’s influence goes far beyond his own lab, including many collaborators among whose 53 finest projects were done with Rich, thousands of undergraduate students who took his courses both in 54 Edmonton and Bamfield, and countless colleagues who took inspirations from his work. Great 55 communities formed in his wake. One such community, the Comparative Morphology, Development, 56 and Biomechanics (CMDB) section of the Canadian Society of Zoologists (CSZ) continues to thrive as 57 the second largest section within the Society, 15 years after Rich founded it with three other members. 58 Rich served initially as the founding chair and then as the secretary general for the first 13 years of its 59 existence. 60 To celebrate Rich’s retirement, his former trainees, collaborators, and friends gathered in 61 Windsor, Ontario from May 14 to 16, 2019 for a special symposium during the annual meeting of CSZ. 62 Sponsored by the Canadian Journal of Zoology and two sections of the Society (the CMDB and the 63 Integrative Ecology and Evolution), the symposium, titled “Zoological Endeavors Inspired by A. 64 Richard Palmer”, featured eight speakers representing various times and aspects of Rich’s career: his © The Author(s) or their Institution(s) Canadian Journal of Zoology Page 4 of 54 4 65 longest collaborator, a mentor, and a champion of larval ecology (Richard R. Strathmann); his first 66 graduate student who carried a torch, like Rich, as an intertidal marine ecologist (Elizabeth G. 67 Boulding); PhD students from the 90’s and the early 2000’s (Timothy A. Rawlings and Brian K. 68 Penney); undergraduate students who spent formative summers on the West Coast under Rich’s 69 guidance and went on to becoming highly influential scholars of evolutionary biology themselves 70 (Adam K. Chippindale and Armand M. Leroi); his postdoc who traveled with Rich to corners of the 71 world in pursuit of alpheid shrimps (Tomonari Kaji); and his successor as the secretary general of the 72 CMDB section (Heather A. Jamniczky). 73 The symposium kicked off with an ‘invitation to zoology’ by Leroi, the author of The Lagoon. 74 Strathmann took the audience for a deep dive into the Cambrian Explosion, probing origins of feeding 75 larvae in metazoan lineages (Strathmann, thisDraft issue). Chippindale followed with a fun ride through 76 early days of Rich and his students’ fascination with bilateral asymmetries. The second day of the 77 symposium featured marine gastropods. Rawlings reviewed systematics of sessile, irregularly coiled, 78 suspension feeding snails (siliquariids, turritellids, and vermetids), and Penney showcased 79 reconstruction of the intricate network of spicules in dorid nudibranchs (Penney et al., this issue). 80 Boulding brought the meeting back home to Bamfield and to the subject of Rich’s lifework since PhD, 81 predator-prey interactions in the intertidal zone of the Pacific Northwest (Boulding et al., this issue). 82 Kaji awe-struck the audience to utter silence with his jaw-dropping work on ultrafast movements in 83 crustaceans. Rounding this all up, Jamniczky discussed stickleback ontogeny, highlighting how Rich’s 84 approach secured the place for studies of form and function in the rise of evolutionary developmental 85 biology. It was the time to share memories and stories, to form and renew friendships, and to admire a 86 great show of ideas and insights launched like fireworks on a Canada Day, as if you were watching 87 from the Westside boardwalk by Bamfield Inlet. 88 This special issue is built around the symposium proceedings, plus contributions from the 89 symposium organizers and Rich’s former trainees and colleagues. Anker (this issue), who unfortunately © The Author(s) or their Institution(s) Page 5 of 54 Canadian Journal of Zoology 5 90 could not make the symposium, names a new alpheid after him. These snapping shrimps feature 91 prominently in Rich’s recent research, which took him, Anker, and Kaji around the world for an 92 amazing insight into how ultrafast movement evolved discontinuously and independently (Kaji et al. 93 2018). Anthony (this issue) publishes the long-awaited chapter from her MSc research conducted in the 94 Palmer lab. Byers and Proctor (this issue), the former a frequent guest of the Palmer lab meetings and 95 the latter a long-time faculty colleague now filling his shoes teaching invertebrate biology, present just 96 the kind of paper that would come up in Rich’s “Cool Papers” meetings: testing correlated evolution of 97 genitalia and peripheral structures between sexes. Uyeno and Clark (this issue) pay a tribute to Rich’s 98 contributions to comparative biomechanics with a detailed look at hagfish skin. The two papers from 99 the symposium organizers bring the balance to the protostome-heavy lineup.