Bolnick’s research mainly focuses on evolutionary ecology, particularly in understanding how interactions among individuals and among species affect the evolution of biodiversity within and among populations. Currently there is an emphasis on host-parasite and predator-prey ?interactions.
The lecture and award ceremony commenced with opening remarks from President Michael A. McRobbie, followed by a brief history of the prize from Larry D. Singell, executive dean of the College of Arts and ?Sciences.
Bolnick was formally introduced by biology department chair Clay Fuqua and then received his prize from McRobbie in front of about 100 audience members.
“The highest instruction was to learn more than in the field,” McRobbie said.
Following the ceremony, Bolnick gave a 50-minute lecture focusing on individual variability.
These same topics were some that Jordan himself worked on in his time of ?research.
The lecture broke down the idea of biodiversity showing trait variation within natural populations, why there is a need for variation and what community-wide effects were due to this variability.
“Within population variation, individual variation exceeds species differences,” Bolnick said.
Examining the three-spine stickleback fish from the lakes in British Columbia, particularly in Vancouver Island, Bolnick was able to find fish exhibiting dramatic variation in breeding color, both within and between populations.
Looking at a fitness landscape by comparing fitness and trait value, there is a stabilizing selection that forms, making it seem that everyone should be ?identical.
Nevertheless, due to diet variation, ecological and morphological divergence between sympathetic species and individual variation exceeding species differences, among others, variation exists in the ?natural population.
“To avoid competition, exploit a new resource,” Bolnick said. “We are not very good in noticing differences in natural ?environments.”
The lecture ended with an examination of personalized microbial therapy as a solution to this variance. Bolnick said we can experience unique steps in evolutionary biology by examining the responses of male and female microbes in relation to the same diet.
Bolnick concluded the lecture with a quote from George Orwell, “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” He personalized this quote by saying that all populations are equal, but some populations are more equal than others.
“We are all individuals, and these interactions can generate variation,” ?Bolnick said.
The David Starr Jordan prize is awarded every three years to a distinguished professor in the realm of biology under the age of 40. Each award recipient has conducted some type of research that has changed the direction of focus in their particular field of study.
Alongside Cornell University and Stanford University, IU established a joint grant to fund a prize in honor of David Starr Jordan, a scientist, educator and institution builder of enormous influence on higher education in the United States who had important ties to each of these universities.
The prize is international in scope and each recipient is chosen by a panel composed of officials from each of the three academic institutions.
Jordan served as a professor of zoology at IU starting in 1879 and served as the University’s seventh president in 1984.
