Western Carolina University

Department of Biology
Professor; Director, Highlands Biological Station

Phone: 828-227-3811; 828-526-2602
Email: costa@email.wcu.edu
Office Address: Stillwell 201
Websites: http://www.wcu.edu/hbs

Education:

• Ph.D., University of Georgia, 1992
• M.S., University of Georgia, 1988
• B.S., SUNY Cortland, 1985

Books:

• Costa, J.T. 2009. The Annotated Origin: A Fascimile of the First Edition of On the Origin of Species. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap/Harvard University Press.
• Costa, J.T.  2006.  The Other Insect Societies.  Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap/Harvard University Press.

Journal articles and book chapters:

• Costa, J.T. 2009. The Darwinian revelation: Tracing the origin and evolution of an idea. BioScience 59: 886-894.
• Costa, J.T. and T.D. Fitzgerald. 2005. Social terminology revisited: where are we a decade later? Ann. Zool. Fennici 42: 559-564.
• Costa, J.T., T.D. Fitzgerald, A. Pescador-Rubio, J. Mays, and D.H. Janzen. 2004. Social behavior of larvae of the Neotropical processionary weevil Phelypera distigma (Boheman) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Hyperinae). Ethology 110: 515-530.
• Fitzgerald, T.D., A. Pescador-Rubio, M.T. Turna, and J.T. Costa. 2004. Trail marking and processionary behavior of the larvae of the weevil Phelypera distigma (Coleoptera: Curculionidae). Journal of Insect Behavior 17: 627-646.
• Costa, J.T., T.D. Fitzgerald, and D.H. Janzen. 2004. Trail-following behavior and natural history of the social caterpillar of Arsenura armida in Costa Rica (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae: Arsenurinae). Tropical Lepidoptera 12: 17-23.
• Costa, J.T. 2003. Teaching Darwin with Darwin. BioScience 53: 1030-1031.

• Costa, J. T. and K. G. Ross. 2003. Fitness effects of group merging in a social insect. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, B 270: 1697-1702.

• Costa, J.T., D.A. Gotzek, and D.H. Janzen. 2003. Late-instar shift in foraging strategy and trail-pheromone use by caterpillars of the Neotropical moth Arsenura armida (Saturniidae: Arsenurinae).  Journal of the Lepidopterist's Society 57: 220-229.

• Flowers, R.W. and J.T. Costa. 2003. Larval communication and group foraging dynamics in the red-headed pine Sawfly, Neodiprion lecontei (Fitch) (Hymenoptera: Symphyta: Diprionidae). Annals of the Entomological Society of America 96: 336-343.

• Costa, J.T. 2002. Scale models? What insect societies teach us about ourselves. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 146: 170-180.

• Costa, J.T. and R.W. Louque. 2001. Group foraging and trail following behavior of the red-headed pine sawfly Neodiprion lecontei (Fitch) (Hymenoptera: Symphyta: Diprionidae). Annals of the Entomological Society of America 94: 480-489.

• Ruf, C., J.T. Costa, and K. Fiedler. 2001. Trail-based communication in social caterpillars of Eriogaster lanestris (Lepidoptera: Lasiocampidae). Journal of Insect Behavior 14: 231-245.

• Fitzgerald, T. D. and J. T. Costa. 1999. Collective behavior in social caterpillars.  pp. 379-400  In:  Information Processing in Social Insects.  C. Detrain, J. L. Denoubourg, and J. M. Pasteels, eds.  Basel: Birkhauser-Verlag.

• Costa, J.T. 1998. Social behavior and its effects on colony and microgeographic genetic structure in phytophagous insect populations.  pp. 205-238  In: Genetic Structure and Local Adaptation in Natural Insect Populations.  S. Mopper and S. Strauss, eds.  New York: Chapman & Hall.

• Costa, J.T. and N.E. Pierce. 1997. Social evolution in the Lepidoptera: Ecological context and communication in larval societies.  pp. 407-442  In: The Evolution of Social Behavior in Insects and Arachnids, J.C. Choe and B.J. Crespi, eds. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

• Costa, J.T. and T.D. Fitzgerald. 1996a. Developments in social terminology: semantic battles in a conceptual war.  Trends in Ecology and Evolution 11: 285-289.

• Costa, J.T. and T.D. Fitzgerald. 1996b. The eusociality continuum revisited: reply from J.T. Costa and T.D. Fitzgerald. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 11: 272-273.

• Costa, J.T., J.H. McDonald, and N.E. Pierce. 1996. The effect of ant association on the population genetics of the Australian lycaenid butterfly, Jalmenus evagoras. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 58: 287-306.

• Hanfstingl, U., A. Berry, E.A. Kellogg, J.T. Costa, W. Rüdiger, and F. Ausubel. 1994. Haplotypic divergence coupled with lack of diversity at the Arabidopsis thaliana alcohol dehydrogenase locus: Roles for both balancing and directional selection? Genetics 138: 1-18.

• Costa, J.T. and K.G. Ross. 1994. Hierarchical genetic structure and gene flow patterns in macrogeographic populations of the eastern tent caterpillar (Malacosoma americanum). Evolution 48: 1158-1167.

• Costa, J.T. 1993. Larval ontogeny and survivorship of eastern tent caterpillar colonies. Journal of Research on the Lepidoptera 32: 89-98.

• Costa, J.T. and K.G. Ross. 1993. Seasonal decline in the intracolony genetic relatedness of eastern tent caterpillars: Implications for social evolution. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 32: 47-54.

• Shoemaker, D.D., J.T. Costa, and K.G. Ross. 1992. Comparisons of heterozygosity in two social insects using a large number of electrophoretic markers. Heredity 69: 573-582.

• Costa, J.T. and D.A. Crossley, Jr. 1991. Diel patterns of canopy arthropods associated with three tree species. Environmental Entomology 20: 1542-1548.

• Fitzgerald, T.D. and J.T. Costa. 1986. Trail-based communication and foraging behavior of young colonies of forest tent caterpillars (Lepidoptera: Lasiocampidae). Annals of the Entomological Society of America 79: 999-1007.

 Abstracts, correspondence, and misc. articles:

• Costa, J.T. 2010. Translated from the Origin(al): A review of "The Origin Then and Now: An Interpretive Guide to the Origin of Species," by David N. Reznick. BioScience 60: 648-649. [Book Review]
• Costa, J.T. 2010.  Social evolution in 'other' insects and arachnids.  In: Breed M.D. and Moore J. (eds) Encyclopedia of Animal Behavior, pp. 231-241. Oxford: Academic Press.
• Costa, J.T. 2010. Correspondence Course: A review of "The Correspondence of Charles Darwin," Volume 17.  Integrative and Comparative Biology 50: 256-259. [Book Review]
• Costa, J.T. 2009. Mem. Bartram: On Charles Darwin’s reading of William Bartram’s Travels.  North Carolina Bartram Trail Society Newsletter, Summer/Fall 2009 and The Chinquapin, Fall 2009.
• Costa, J.T. 2007. How a naturalist found safe colours for soldiers. Nature 448: 408.

• Costa, J.T. and L.S. Philyaw. 2007. A different kind of exploration: William Bartram and science in the 1700s. Tar Heel Junior Historian 47: 36-37.

• Costa, J.T. 2001. The sociality lexicon past, present, and future: toward an inclusive concept of animal sociality.  Advances in Ethology 36: 28.  Contributions to the 27th International Ethological Conference, Tübingen, Germany, August 2001.

• Costa, J.T. 1997. Caterpillars as social insects. American Scientist 85: 150-159.

Scientific papers presented (past 5 years):

• Costa, J. T.  2009.  New Landscapes and New Eyes: The Many Voyages of Charles Darwin.  (Dis)Entangling Darwin: Cross-Disciplinary Reflections on the Man and his Legacy, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal, 4-5 December 2009.
• Costa, J.T.  2009.  Darwin evolving: A historical perspective on Darwin’s view of natural selection and ecology. Charles Darwin Bicentennial Symposium, Association of Southeastern Biologists annual meeting, Birmingham, Alabama, April 1-4, 2009.

• Costa, J.T.  2008. Plenary Speaker, 4th European meeting of the International Union for the Study of Social Insects, La Roche-en-Ardenne, Belgium, 30 August - 4 September 2008.

• Costa, J.T.  2007.  Forms and functions of social networks in larval societies.  Symposium speaker, Entomological Society of America National Meeting, San Diego, California, December 2007.

• Costa, J.T.  2005. Social biology of a processionary weevil. Symposium speaker, Entomological Society of America National Meeting, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, December 2005

 Seminars (past 5 Years):

2010

College of Charleston Darwin Week celebration

College of Science and Mathematics, The Citadel

Department of Biology, Francis Marion University Darwin Day event

Keynote Speaker, Clemson University Darwin Day event

North Georgia College and State University Darwin Day event

Vanderbilt University Darwin Day event

 

2009

Salem State University Darwin Festival, Salem, Massachusetts

Appalachian State University Darwin Bicentennial Lecture Series

Keynote Speaker, UT-Knoxville Darwin Day celebration, Knoxville, Tennessee

Department of Biology, Kalamazoo College, Kalamazoo, Michigan

Keynote Speaker, North Carolina Science Leadership Association annual meeting, Greensboro, North Carolina

Zahner Lecture Series, Highlands Biological Station, Highlands, NC

 

2008

Department of Entomology, University of Georgia

Mike Duke Memorial Seminar, Department of Entomology, NC State University

 

2007

Department of Entomology, Cornell University

Department of Biology, Western Carolina University

Blue Ridge Naturalist Program, UNC-Asheville

Department of Biology, UNC-Greensboro

Department of Biology, Presbyterian College

 

2006

Zahner Lecture Series, Highlands Biological Station, Highlands, NC

Department of Biology, East Tennessee State University

 

Special lectures, exhibits, panel discussions etc. (past 5 years):

 2005-present:

• Co-instructor, Darwin and the Origins of Evolutionary Biology and Darwin and Contemporary Evolutionary Biology, Harvard Darwin Program, University of Oxford, UK.

 

2009

• Panelist, UNC-TV special screening of The Human Spark, PBS program on human evolution, Museum of Natural Sciences, Raleigh, 8 October 2009.

• Panelist, RE: Design post-production panel discussion, North Carolina State University, 4 November 2009.

• Panelist, Darwin and the Origin of Species, Appalachian State University, 19 November 2009.

• "Darwin and Dixie" presentation, North Carolina Bartram Trail Society annual meeting, September 2009.

• Lecturer on human evolution, Center for Life Enrichment program, Highlands, North Carolina.

• Faculty advisor and co-developer, Darwin’s (R)evolution exhibit, Hunter Library, Western Carolina University, February-December 2009.

 

2008

• Lecturer on human evolution and diversity, North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching seminar Climbing the Double Helix: Is DNA Destiny?  November 10-14, 2008.

 

2007

• “Responsibilities of Scientists to the Public,” presentation in Debating Science workshop, Center for Ethics, University of Montana, August 2007.

• Co-developer, Highlands Biological Station William Bartram exhibit, trail, and guidebook, and Bartram’s Journey exhibit, Mountain Heritage Center Museum, Western Carolina University.

• Darwin’s Origin of Species, Center for Life Enrichment program, Highlands, North Carolina.

 

2006

• Speaker on insect sociality, Center for Life Enrichment program, Highlands, North Carolina.

 

2005

• "Small Wonders," on insects in art and science; Where Art and Science Intersect staff development symposium, Newark Museum, Newark, New Jersey, October 2005.