PHILIP JOHNS

PHILIP JOHNS

PHILIP JOHNS

Associate Professor

philip.johns@yale-nus.edu.sg

Research Areas

Evolution and genetics of social behaviours in insects and other animals

Research Interests

Dr Johns’ research interests revolve around the evolution and genetics of social behaviours in insects and other animals. He studies the behaviour, evolution, genetics and genomics of a group of Southeast Asian insects, stalk-eyed flies (Diopsidae), in both the field and laboratory. He has also studied the evolution of cooperation and eusociality in termites. Along the way he has studied everything from courtship and mating behaviour of mantises, to aggression and territoriality in spiders, to courtship in scorpions, to the songs of some very noisy crickets. He and his students study the social behaviours of an urban carnivore in Singapore, smooth-coated otters. He is especially interested in employing community science to conduct animal behaviour studies.

Selected Publications

  1. Tan MK, Yong CYH*, Ingrisch S, Wahab RHA, Johns PM. 2018. Inferring species boundaries using acoustic and morphological data in the ground cricket genus Gymnogryllus (Orthoptera: Grylloidea: Gryllinae). Systematics and Biodiversity. https://doi.org/10.1080/14772000.2018.1521479

 

  1. Baker RH, Narechania A, DeSalle R, Johns PM, Reinhardt JA, Wilkinson GS. 2016. Spermatogenesis drives rapid gene creation and masculinization of the X chromosome in stalk-eyed flies (Diopsidae). Genome Biology and Evolution. doi: 10.1093/gbe/evw043.

 

  1. Reinhardt JA, Brand CL, Paczolt KA, Johns PM, Baker RH, Wilkinson GS. 2014. Meiotic drive impacts expression and evolution of X-linked genes in stalk-eyed flies. PLoS Genetics 10(5): e1004362. doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1004362.

 

  1. Howard KJ, Johns PM, Breisch NL, Thorne BL. 2013. Frequent colony fusions provide opportunities for helpers to become reproductives in the termite Zootermopsis nevadensis. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 67:1575-1585.

 

  1. Wilkinson GS, Johns PM, Metheney JD, Baker RH. 2013. Sex-biased gene expression and development of sexually dimorphic heads in stalk-eyed flies. PLoS ONE 8(3): e59826.

 

  1. Baker RH, Narechania A, Johns PM, Wilkinson GS. 2012. Gene duplication, tissue-specific gene expression and sexual conflict in stalk-eyed flies (Diopsidae). Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, B, 367: 2357-2375.

 

  1. Keesing, F, Oberoi P*, Vaicekonyte R, Gowen K*, Henry L, Mount S, Johns P, R Ostfeld. 2011. Effects of garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) on entomopathogenic fungi. Ecoscience 18: 164-168.

 

  1. Maxwell MR, Barry KL, Johns PM. 2010. Examinations of female pheromone use in two praying mantids, Stagmomantis limbata and Tenodera aridifolia sinensis (Mantodea: Mantidae). Annals of the Entomological Society of America 103: 103: 120-127.

 

  1. Johns PM, Howard KJ, Breisch NL, Rivera A*, Thorne BL. 2009. Nonrelatives inherit colony resources in a primitive termite. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 106: 17452-7456.

 

  1. Johns PM and Wilkinson GS. 2007. X chromosome influences sperm length in the stalk-eyed fly Cyrtodiopsis dalmanni. Heredity 99:56-61.