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Michael Angilletta

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School of Life Sciences
President's Professor; Assoc. Director Undergraduate Programs
Faculty, TEMPE Campus, Mailcode 4501
Sustainability Scientists and Scholars
Senior Sustainability Scientist
Faculty, TEMPE Campus, Mailcode 4501
Lincoln Center Applied Ethics
Lincoln Center Affiliated Faculty
Faculty, TEMPE Campus, Mailcode 4501
Center for Biology and Society
President's Professor
Faculty, TEMPE Campus, Mailcode 4501
Biography: 

Michael Angilletta studies how animal populations adapt to changing environments. Every animal relies on behavior and physiology to avoid stress, but these solutions aren't free. Behavioral and physiological strategies consume energy or impose risk---costs that must be weighed against the potential benefits.

Professor Angilletta and his collaborators analyze these costs and benefits to understand how natural selection generates phenotypic variation in widespread species. Because he thinks about general evolutionary problems, his lab works with a variety of animals, including flies, lizards, and people.

For most of his career, he focused on adaptation to climate change. More recently, however, he began collaborating with psychologists, economists, and engineers to study human behavior. The motivation for this research has been the chance to work with friends who think outside the box. Not to mention, human behavior can be so damn fascinating! These side-projects inspired him to develop a course on human behavior, called Why people steal, cheat, and lie.

Professor Angilletta also oversees undergraduate programs in the School of Life Sciences. As part of this job, he leads the development of the first fully online bachelor's in biological sciences. He collaborates with the companies such as CogBooks and Labster to create courses that push the boundaries of online education.

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Binary Data Curriculum Vitae
Education: 
  • PhD University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
  • BS The College of New Jersey
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Google Scholar: 
Google Scholar Profile
Publications: 

Thermoregulatory Behavior

  • Angilletta, M. J., J. P. Youngblood, L. K. Neal, J. M. VandenBrooks. 2019. The neuroscience of adaptive thermoregulation. Neuroscience Letters 692: 127-136.

  • Camacho Guerrero, A., J. M. VandenBrooks, A. Riley, R. S. Telemeco, and M. J. Angilletta. 2018. Oxygen supply did not affect how lizards perceived thermal stress. Integrative Zoology 13: 428-436.

  • Rusch, T., M. W. Sears, and M. J. Angilletta. 2018. Lizards perceived abiotic and biotic stressors independently when competing for shade in terrestrial mesocosms. Hormones and Behavior 106: 44-51.

  • Basson, C.H., O. Levy, M. J. Angilletta, and Susana Clusella-Trullas. 2017. Lizards paid a greater opportunity cost to thermoregulate in a less heterogeneous environment. Functional Ecology 31: 856-865.

  • Rusch, T. and M. J. Angilletta. 2017. Competition for thermal resources between lizards alters thermoregulatory behavior and hormone levels. Functional Ecology 31: 1519-1528.   

  • Sears, M. W., M. J. Angilletta, M. S. Schuler, J. D. Borchert, K. F. Dilliplane, M. Stegman, T. W. Rusch, and W. A. Mitchell. 2016. Configuration of the thermal landscape determines thermoregulatory performance of ectotherms. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA. 113:10595–10600.

  • Sears, M. W. and M. J. Angilletta. 2015. Costs and benefits of thermoregulation revisited: statistical and spatial distributions of temperature drive energetic costs. The American Naturalist 185: E94-E102.

Thermal Adaptation

  • Alton, L. A., C. Condon, C. R. White, and M. J. Angilletta. 2017. Colder environments did not select for a faster metabolism during experimental evolution of Drosophila melanogaster. Evolution 71: 145-152.  

  • Teague, C., J. Youngblood, K. Ragan, M. J. Angilletta, and J. M. VandenBrooks. 2017. A positive genetic correlation between heat tolerance and hypoxia tolerance in Drosophila melanogaster. Biology Letters 13: 20170309.

  • Adrian, G.J., M. Czarnoleski, and M. J. Angilletta. 2016. Flies evolved small bodies and cells at high or fluctuating temperatures. Ecology and Evolution 6: 7791-7996.  

  • Le Vinh Thuy, J., J. M. VandenBrooks, and M. J. Angilletta. 2016. Developmental plasticity evolved according to specialist-generalist tradeoffs in experimental populations of Drosophila melanogaster. Biology Letters 12: 20160379.

  • Condon, C., A. Acharya, G. J. Adrian, A. M. Hurliman, D. Malekooti, P. Nguyen, M. H. Zelic, and M. J. Angilletta. 2015. Indirect selection of thermal tolerance during experimental evolution of Drosophila melanogaster. Ecology and Evolution 5: 1873-1880.

  • Condon, C., B. C. Cooper, S. Yeaman, and M. J. Angilletta. 2014. Temporal variation favored the evolution of generalists in experimental populations of Drosophila melanogaster. Evolution 68: 720-728.

  • Vimmerstedt, J., D. Padilla, M. J. Angilletta, J. M. VandenBrooks. 2019. Oxygen supply limits the heat tolerance of avian embryos. Biology Letters 15: 20190566.

  • Youngblood, J. P., C. R. B. da Silva, M. J. Angilletta, and J. M. VandenBrooks. 2019. Oxygen limitation does not drive the decreasing heat tolerance of grasshoppers during development. Physiological and Biochemical Zoology 92: 567-572.

Impacts of Climate Change

  • Angilletta, M. J., M. W. Sears, J. M. VandenBrooks. 2019. Fundamental flaws with the fundamental niche. Integrative and Comparative Biology doi: 10.1093/icb/icz084.

  • Telemeco, R., B. Fletcher, O. Levy, A. Riley, Y. Rodriguez-Sanchez, C. D. Smith, C. Teague, A. Waters, M. J. Angilletta, and L. B. Buckley. 2017. Lizards fail to plastically adjust nesting behavior or thermal tolerance as needed to buffer populations from climate change. Global Change Biology 23: 1075-1084.

  • Levy, O., L. B. Buckley, T. H. Keitt, and M. J. Angilletta. 2016. Ontogeny constrains phenology: opportunities for activity and reproduction interact to dictate potential phenologies in a changing climate. Ecology Letters  19: 620-628.  

  • Levy, O., L. B. Buckley, T. H. Keitt, and M. J. Angilletta. 2016. A dynamically downscaled projection of past and future microclimates. Ecology 97: 1888.  

  • Buckley, L. B., J. C. Ehrenberger, and M. J. Angilletta. 2015. Thermoregulatory behavior limits local adaptation of thermal niches and confers sensitivity to climate change. Functional Ecology 29: 1038-1047.

  • Levy, O., L. B. Buckley, T. H. Keitt, C. D. Smith, K. Boateng, D. Kumar, and M. J. Angilletta. 2015. Resolving the life cycle alters expected impacts of climate change. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 282: 20150837.

  • Smith, C. D., R. Telemeco, J. VandenBrooks, and M. J. Angilletta. 2015. Oxygen supply limits the heat tolerance of lizard embryos. Biology Letters 11: 20150113.

Performance and Deception

  • Angilletta, M. J., R. S. Wilson, and G. Kubitz. 2019. Self-deception in non-human animals: weak crayfish escalated aggression as if they were strong. Behavioral Ecology 30: 1469-1476.

  • Graham, Z. A., D. J. Padilla, and M. J. Angilletta. Claw size predicts dominance within and between invasive species of crayfish. Animal Behaviour 164: in press.

  • Graham, Z. A., D. Padilla, and M. J. Angilletta. 2020. Virile crayfish escalate aggression according to body size instead of weapon size. Animal Behaviour 163: 9-15.

  • Hunter, A. H, M. J. Angilletta, and R. S. Wilson. 2018. Behaviours of shooter and goalkeeper interact to determine the outcome of soccer penalties. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports 28: 2751–2759.

  • Hunter A. H., M. J. Angilletta, T. Pavlic, G. Lichtwarke, and R. S. Wilson. 2018. Modeling the two-dimensional accuracy of soccer kicks. Journal of Biomechanics 72: 159-166

  • Hunter, A. H., S. Murphy, M. J. Angilletta, and R. S. Wilson. 2018. Anticipating the direction of soccer penalty shots depends on the speed and technique of the kicks. Sports 6: 73.

  • Wilson, R. S., G. David, S. C. Murphy, A. C. Niehaus, M. J. Angilletta, A. Hunter, and M. D. Smith. 2017. Skill not athleticism predicts individual variation in match performance of soccer players. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 284: 20170953.

  • Murphy, S.C., W. von Hippel, S. L. Dubbs, M. J. Angilletta, R. S. Wilson, R. Trivers, and F. K. Barlow. 2015. The role of overconfidence in romantic desirability and competition. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 41: 1036-1052.

  • White, C. R., D. J. Marshall, L. A. Alton, P. A. Arnold, J. E. Beaman, C. L. Bywater, C. Condon, T. S. Crispin, A. Janetzki, H. S. Winwood Smith, M. J. Angilletta, S. F. Chenoweth, C. E. Franklin, L. G. Halsey, M. R. Kearney, S. J. Portugal, and D. Ortiz-Barrientos. The origin and maintenance of metabolic allometry in animals. Nature Ecology & Evolution 3: 598–603.

  • Wilson, R. S. and M. J. Angilletta. 2015. Dishonest signaling during aggressive encounters. Pp. 205-228 in Animal Signalling: A Functional Approach. (D. J. Irschick, M. Briffa, and J. Podos, eds.). Ralph Wiley Press.

Spring 2020
Course NumberCourse Title
BIO 320Fundamentals of Ecology
BIO 321Introductory Ecology Lab
BIO 492Honors Directed Study
BIO 493Honors Thesis
BIO 494Special Topics
BIO 495Undergraduate Research
BIO 496Undergraduate Thesis
Fall 2019
Course NumberCourse Title
BIO 492Honors Directed Study
BIO 495Undergraduate Research
MIC 496Undergraduate Thesis
MBB 496Undergraduate Thesis
Summer 2019
Course NumberCourse Title
BIO 182General Biology II
BIO 320Fundamentals of Ecology
BIO 321Introductory Ecology Lab
BIO 432Why People Steal,Cheat,and Lie
Spring 2019
Course NumberCourse Title
BIO 320Fundamentals of Ecology
BIO 321Introductory Ecology Lab
BIO 493Honors Thesis
BIO 494Special Topics
BIO 495Undergraduate Research
BIO 496Undergraduate Thesis
Fall 2018
Course NumberCourse Title
BIO 492Honors Directed Study
BIO 495Undergraduate Research
MIC 496Undergraduate Thesis
MBB 496Undergraduate Thesis
Summer 2018
Course NumberCourse Title
BIO 182General Biology II
BIO 320Fundamentals of Ecology
BIO 432Why People Steal,Cheat,and Lie
BIO 495Undergraduate Research
Spring 2018
Course NumberCourse Title
BIO 282ConceptualApproachBioMajors II
BIO 493Honors Thesis
BIO 494Special Topics
BIO 495Undergraduate Research
BIO 496Undergraduate Thesis
Fall 2017
Course NumberCourse Title
BIO 492Honors Directed Study
BIO 495Undergraduate Research
Summer 2017
Course NumberCourse Title
BIO 182General Biology II
BIO 494Special Topics
Spring 2017
Course NumberCourse Title
BIO 282ConceptualApproachBioMajors II
BIO 493Honors Thesis
BIO 495Undergraduate Research
BIO 496Undergraduate Thesis
Fall 2016
Course NumberCourse Title
BIO 182General Biology II
BIO 189Life Sciences Career Paths
BIO 492Honors Directed Study
BIO 495Undergraduate Research
Summer 2016
Course NumberCourse Title
BIO 182General Biology II
BIO 494Special Topics
Spring 2016
Course NumberCourse Title
BIO 282ConceptualApproachBioMajors II
BIO 493Honors Thesis
BIO 495Undergraduate Research
BIO 496Undergraduate Thesis
Fall 2015
Course NumberCourse Title
BIO 189Life Sciences Career Paths
BIO 492Honors Directed Study
BIO 495Undergraduate Research
Presentations: 
  • Angilletta, M. J. 2016. Conservation physiology: the mechanistic basis of organismal performance and population persistence during environmental stress. Keynote lecture in the Merav Ziv Memorial Symposium at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Sde Boker, Israel.
  • Angilletta, M. J. 2015. From thermal physiology to macrosystems ecology: building a predictive theory for real world problems. Plenary lecture at the 9th International Congress of Comparative Physiology and Biochemistry: From Molecules to Macrophysiology. Kraków, Poland.
  • Angilletta, M. J. 2014. Predicting biological impacts of climate change: the devil is in the details. Keynote lecture at the international workshop titled HETEROCLIM: Role of climatic heterogeneity across spatial and temporal scales in organisms' response to global warming. Loches, France.
  • Angilletta, M. J. 2014. The new thermal biology: building a predictive theory for real world problems. Plenary lecture at the 5th International Conference on Thermal Physiology and Pharmacology of Thermoregulation. Kruger National Park, South Africa.
  • Angilletta, M. J. 2013. Are Mediterranean lizards safe from climate change? Plenary lecture at the 8th International Symposium on Lacterids of the Mediterranean in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
  • Angilletta, M. J. 2011. Plasticity of thermal tolerance: patterns, limits, and consequences. Keynote Speaker for the symposium titled Physiological plasticity of thermal tolerance, at the annual meeting of the Society for Experimental Biology. Glasgow, Scotland.
Honors / Awards: 
  • ASU's Funniest Teacher, Project Humanities, Arizona State University, 2015
  • Ellerman Fellow, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
  • European Union Visiting Lecturer, Jagiellonian University, 2013
  • Distinguished visiting speaker, Californian State University at Northridge, 2011
  • Marsh Book-of-the-Year Award, British Ecological Society, 2010
  • Faculty of 1000 in Biology, Physiological Ecology Section (2009-2012)
  • Theodore Dreiser Distinguished Research Award, Indiana State University, 2009
Editorships: 
  • Editorial Board, Journal of Thermal Biology, 2012-present
  • Section Editor, Temperature, 2014-present
  • Guest Editor, Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, 2014-2015
  • Inaugural Editorial Board, Conservation Physiology, 2012-2015
  • Associate Editor, The American Naturalist, 2010-2013
  • Inaugural Editorial Board, Oxford Bibliographies, 2011-2013
  • Faculty of 1000, Physiological Ecology Section, 2009-2012
  • Associate Editor, Functional Ecology, 2005-2011
  • Associate Editor, Herpetologica, 2003-2005
  • Ad hoc Assigning Editor, Conservation Biology, 2004
Professional Associations: 

Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, 1998-present

Graduate Faculties / Mentoring History: 

Animals Behavior; Biological Sciences; Environmental Life Sciences; Evolutionary Biology

Work History: 

Professor, Arizona State University (2013-present); Associate Professor, Arizona State University (2006-2013); Associate Professor, Arizona State University (2010-2010); Associate Professor, Indiana State University (2006-2010); Assistant Professor, Indiana State University (2000-2006)

Service: 

Institutional

  • Associate Director of Undergraduate Programs, School of Life Sciences, 2014-present
  • Assistant Director of Undergraduate Programs, School of Life Sciences, 2012-2014
  • Chair of search committee in Macrosystems Biology, School of Life Sciences, 2014
  • Member of search committee in Elementary Science Education, MaryLou Fulton Teachers College, 2012
  • Workshop Leader: Responsible Conduct in Research, Office of Knowledge Enterprise and Development, 2012
  • Undergraduate Programs Committee, School of Life Sciences, 2012-present
  • Assessment Committee, School of Life Sciences, 2013-2014
  • Interim Director of the Biology Graduate Program, School of Life Sciences, 2012
  • Advisory Board for Ecosystem Conservation & Resilience Initiative, School of Life Sciences, 2012-2013
  • Curriculum Reform Committee, School of Life Sciences, 2010-2014
  • Communications Committee, School of Life Sciences, 2012-2013
  • Advisory Committee for University Technology Office, 2012-2013

Professional

  • Chair of the Division of Ecology and Evolution, Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, 2013 - 2015
  • Chair Elect of the Division of Ecology and Evolution, Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, 2011 - 2013
  • Co-Chair of Gordon Research Conference: Unifying Ecology Across Scales, 2012 - 2014
Expertise Areas: 
Behavior
Physiology
Ecology
Evolution
Modeling
Climate Change