Background
John N. Thompson was born on November 15, 1951 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. He is a son of John C. Thompson and Cecilia (Kravich) Thompson.
John N. Thompson studied at Washington & Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania, from 1969 to 1973.
Thompson enrolled in the University of Illinois, School of Life Sciences Ecology Program in Urbana, Illinois, and received his Doctor of Philosophy in 1977.
(Interaction and Coevolution would go on to be considered ...)
Interaction and Coevolution would go on to be considered a landmark study that pointed to the beginning of a new discipline. Through chapters on antagonism, mutualism, and the effects of these interactions on populations, speciation, and community structure, Thompson seeks to explain not only how interactions differ in the selection pressures they exert on species, but also when interactions are most likely to lead to coevolution.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IKEKNUK/?tag=2022091-20
1982
(Traditional ecological approaches to species evolution ha...)
Traditional ecological approaches to species evolution have frequently studied too few species, relatively small areas, and relatively short time spans. In this book John N. Thompson advances a new conceptual approach to the evolution of species interactions - the geographic mosaic theory of coevolution. Thompson demonstrates how an integrated study of life histories, genetics, and the geographic structure of populations yields a broader understanding of coevolution, or the development of reciprocal adaptations and specializations in interdependent species.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0226797597/?tag=2022091-20
1994
(Coevolution - reciprocal evolutionary change in interacti...)
Coevolution - reciprocal evolutionary change in interacting species driven by natural selection - is one of the most important ecological and genetic processes organizing the earth's biodiversity: most plants and animals require coevolved interactions with other species to survive and reproduce. The Geographic Mosaic of Coevolution analyzes how the biology of species provides the raw material for long-term coevolution, evaluates how local coadaptation forms the basic module of coevolutionary change, and explores how the coevolutionary process reshapes locally coevolving interactions across the earth's constantly changing landscapes.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DQMWSXG/?tag=2022091-20
2005
(In Relentless Evolution, John N. Thompson explores why ad...)
In Relentless Evolution, John N. Thompson explores why adaptive evolution never ceases and why natural selection acts on species in so many different ways. Thompson presents a view of life in which ongoing evolution is essential and inevitable. Each chapter focuses on one of the major problems in adaptive evolution: How fast is evolution? How strong is natural selection? How do species co-opt the genomes of other species as they adapt? Why does adaptive evolution sometimes lead to more, rather than less, genetic variation within populations? How does the process of adaptation drive the evolution of new species? How does coevolution among species continually reshape the web of life? And, more generally, how are our views of adaptive evolution changing?
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00C85V7C0/?tag=2022091-20
2013
biologist educator researcher author
John N. Thompson was born on November 15, 1951 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. He is a son of John C. Thompson and Cecilia (Kravich) Thompson.
John N. Thompson studied at Washington & Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania, from 1969 to 1973 and graduated with a bachelor's degree (magna cum laude) in 1973. He then enrolled in the University of Illinois, School of Life Sciences Ecology Program in Urbana, Illinois, and received his Doctor of Philosophy in 1977. His dissertation was titled "Patch Dynamics in the Insect - Pastinaca Sativa Association: Life History Tactics and Population Consequences".
John N. Thompson was a visiting assistant professor of entomology at the University of Illinois at Urbana in 1977-1978. From 1978 to 1982 he became an assistant professor of botany and zoology at Washington State University in Pullman, and in 1982-1987 he was an associate professor. From 1987 till 2000 Thompson was a professor of botany and zoology there. From 1994 to 1998 Thompson was also Meyer Distinguished Professor there.
Thompson was also the 1996 Glaser Distinguished Visiting Lecturer at Florida International University.
In 2000 John N. Thompson became a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where he was Director of the Institute for Innovation in Environmental Research from 2002 to 2007 and became Distinguished Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology in 2008, and in 2014 he became Jean H Langenheim Endowed Chair in Plant Ecology and Evolution.
Thompson is known for research on coevolution. He has written extensively about how coevolution shapes the web of life. His books explore why species evolve relentlessly, how mutualisms form among species, and why enemy species continue to coevolve. Among his noted works are "Relentless Evolution", "The Geographic Mosaic of Coevolution", "Interaction and Coevolution" and "The Coevolutionary Process".
(Coevolution - reciprocal evolutionary change in interacti...)
2005(Traditional ecological approaches to species evolution ha...)
1994(Interaction and Coevolution would go on to be considered ...)
1982(In Relentless Evolution, John N. Thompson explores why ad...)
2013John N. Thompson was a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1988, Royal Entomological Society, National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis. He was also chairperson of the publications committee of Ecological Society of America in 1988-1992, vice president of the American Society of Naturalists in 1998, and a member of the council of the Society for the Study of Evolution during 1988-1990. Besides, Thompson has been a member of the British Ecological Society, Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma Xi, and Phi Sigma.
John N. Thompson married Jill Fansmith on August 18, 1973.