Paul W. Sherman

Paul W. Sherman, Behavioral Ecologist

Paul W. Sherman (born July 6, 1949) is a professor Emeritus at Cornell University in animal behaviour best known for his work on the social behavior of rodents (ground squirrels and naked mole rats), eusociality, and evolutionary medicine.

Biography

Sherman received his B.A. from Stanford in 1971, an M.S. in zoology from University of Michigan in 1974 and in 1976, his Ph.D. He was a Miller Postdoctoral Fellow at Berkeley from 1976 to 78, and taught there from 1978 to 1981. He joined Cornell faculty in 1981. In 1984 he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1984, and in 1985 he received tenure. He was awarded full professorship at Cornell in 1991. He was an Elected Fellow of the Animal Behavior Society, and served as a Sigma Xi Distinguished National Lecturer. During his career he published or edited 7 books and 195 papers and book chapters, and sponsored or co-sponsored 23 doctoral students and 7 postdoctoral students. In 2005 he was awarded the Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellowship for “effective, inspiring, and distinguished teaching of undergraduate students.” In 1977 he published evidence that alarm calls by female Belding's ground squirrels function to warn descendant and collateral kin of approaching terrestrial predators (coyotes, badgers, and weasels). In 1996 he published work demonstrating how kin selection in the eusocial naked mole rats affects food allocation. In 1999 he showed that spices have anti-microbial properties and proposed that the spices used in traditional meat-based cuisines world-wide originally (before refrigeration) served to stave off food-borne pathogens and preserve the food; as a result, people who cooked with spices and liked their tastes were best protected, especially in hot climates. In 2000 he published support for the hypothesis that morning sickness is an adaptation that protects pregnant mothers and their developing fetuses from foodborne illnesses, some of which can cause miscarriage or birth defects, such as listeriosis and toxoplasmosis. In 2008 he published work supporting the hypothesis that allergies function as cancer protection mechanisms. In 2010 he published evidence that bdelloid rotfiers, which present a major evolutionary puzzle because they alone have reproduced asexually for millions of years, can escape parasites and pathogens not via genetic recombination (like other organisms) but rather by completely drying up (anhydrobiosis) and dispersing on the wind.

Bibliography

Books

• Sherman, Paul W.; Alcock, John, eds. (2013). Exploring animal behavior: readings from American scientist (6th ed.). Sunderland (Mass.): Sinauer ass. ISBN 978-1-60535-195-7.
• Wolff, Jerry O.; Sherman, Paul W., eds. (2007). Rodent Societies: An Ecological and Evolutionary Perspective. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
• Sherman, Paul, ed. (1991). The Biology of the Naked Mole-Rat. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-62886-8.

Papers

• Hoogland, John L.; Sherman, Paul W. (1976-01-01). "Advantages and disadvantages of bank swallow (Riparia riparia) coloniality". Ecological Monographs. 46 (1): 33–58. Bibcode:1976EcoM...46...33H. doi:10.2307/1942393. JSTOR 1942393.
• Sherman, Paul W. (1977-09-01). "Nepotism and the evolution of alarm calls". Science. 197 (4310): 1246–1253. Bibcode:1977Sci...197.1246S. doi:10.1126/science.197.4310.1246. PMID 17781971.
• Holmes, Warren G.; Sherman, Paul W. (1982-08-01). "The Ontogeny of Kin Recognition in Two Species of Ground Squirrels". American Zoologist. 22 (3): 491–517. doi:10.1093/ICB/22.3.491.
• Billing, Jennifer; Sherman, Paul W. (1999-06-01). "Antimicrobial functions of spices: why some like it hot". Quarterly Review of Biology. 73 (1): 3–49. doi:10.1086/420058. PMID 9586227.
• Flaxman, Samuel M.; Sherman, Paul W. (2000-06-01). "Morning sickness:a mechanism for protecting mother and embryo". Quarterly Review of Biology. 72 (2): 113–148. doi:10.1086/393377. PMID 10858967.
• Schlaepfer, Martin A.; Runge, Michael C.; Sherman, Paul W. (2002-10-01). "Ecological and evolutionary traps". Trends in Ecology & Evolution. 17 (10): 474–480. doi:10.1016/S0169-5347(02)02580-6.
• Sherman, Paul W.; Holland, Erica; Sherman, Janet Shellman (2008-12-01). "Allergies: their role in cancer prevention". Quarterly Review of Biology. 83 (4): 339–362. doi:10.1086/592850. PMID 19143335.
• Wilson, Christopher G.; Sherman, Paul W. (2010-07-01). "Anciently asexual bdelloid rotifers escape lethal fungal parasites by drying up and blowing away". Science. 327 (5965): 574–576. Bibcode:2010Sci...327..574W. doi:10.1126/science.1179252. PMID 20110504.