Jennifer Fox
Hall of Sciences 137; phone x3358
email: jafox at drew.edu
personal website

Professional Biography

Professor Fox is an evolutionary ecologist who teaches the “wet” ecology courses at Drew.  She received a B.A. in Biology from Carleton College, an M.A. in Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior at Indiana University, and a Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Cornell University.  Her masters thesis focused on the influence of parasites in determining spatial patterns of genetic diversity of freshwater snails in Lake Alexandrina, the most beautiful lake in New Zealand.  Her doctoral dissertation research examined spatial and temporal patterns of genetic and phenotypic diversity of Daphnia mendotae in upstate New York, especially in Onondaga Lake, the most polluted lake in North America.  Jennifer was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Kazakhstan, where she helped set up the country’s first masters program in Environmental Studies.  She joined the Drew faculty in 2005.

Research Interests

Dr. Fox’s research involves reconstructing past populations to understand ecological and evolutionary patterns and processes.  More specifically, she uses records of dormant eggs of zooplankton contained in lake sediments to determine phenotypic and genetic responses to environmental change.  Focusing on Daphnia, an ecologically important freshwater crustacean, she has used a combination of laboratory observations and experiments to determine the ability of populations to respond to environmental change.  She is also very interested in understanding the population genetic structure of species capable of dispersing through time through prolonged dormancy.

On the personal side...

Jennifer grew up in Saratoga Springs, NY.  She enjoys traveling, camping and hiking, and catching live music.  In the summer she can often be found at music festivals, simultaneously enjoying all three of these interests.

Publications include:

Fox, J.A.  2004.  New microsatellite primers for Daphnia galeata mendotae.  Molecular Ecology Notes 4: 544-546.

Fox, J.A., M.F. Dybdahl, J. Jokela, C.M. Lively.  1996.  Genetic structure of coexisting sexual and clonal subpopulations in a freshwater snail (Potamopyrgus antipodarum).  Evolution 50: 1541-1548.

Hairston, N.G., Jr., C.L. Holtmeier, W. Lampert, L.J. Weider, D.M. Post, J.M. Fischer, C.E. Cáceres, J.A. Fox, U. Gaedke.  2001.  Natural selection for grazer resistance to toxic cyanobacteria: evolution of phenotypic plasticity?  Evolution 55: 2203-2214.

Hairston, N.G., Jr., S.P. Ellner, M.A. Geber, T. Yoshida, J.A. Fox.  2005.  Rapid evolution and the convergence of ecological and evolutionary time.  Ecology Letters 8: 1114-1127.

Hairston, N.G., Jr., W. Lampert, C.E. Cáceres, C.L. Holtmeier, L.J. Weider, U. Gaedke, J.M. Fischer, J.A. Fox, D.M. Post.  1999.  Evolution of grazer resistance to toxic cyanobacteria demonstrated using long-dormant eggs.  Nature 401: 446.

Howard, J.J., M.L. Henneman, G.A. Cronin, J.A. Fox, G. Hormiga. 1996.  Conditioning of scouts and recruits during foraging by a leaf-cutting ant (Atta columbica).  Animal Behaviour 52: 299-306.

Jokela, J., C.M. Lively, J.A. Fox, M.F. Dybdahl.  1997.  Flat reaction norms and ‘frozen’ phenotypic variation in clonal snails (Potamopyrgus antipodarum).  Evolution 51: 1120-1129.

Jokela, J., C.M. Lively, M.F. Dybdahl, J.A. Fox.  1997.  Evidence for a cost of sex in a freshwater snail (Potamopyrgus antipodarum).  Ecology 78: 452-461.

Jokela, J., C.M. Lively, M.F. Dybdahl, J.A. Fox.  2003.  Genetic variation in sexual and clonal lineages of a freshwater snail.  Biological Journal of the Linnaean Society 79: 165-181.

Jennifer Fox
Assistant Professor of Biology