CV
AbbotCV_2020_full.pdfPatrick Abbot
Contact Information
Department of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville TN 37235
Phone: 615.936.2550 Fax: 615.343.6707
E-Mail: patrick.abbot@vanderbilt.edu
Academic Appointments
Associate Professor, Vanderbilt University 2011
Assistant Professor, Vanderbilt University 2004-2011
Education
Postdoctoral Fellow; Integrative Biology, University of Texas at Austin
Ph.D, 2001; Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona 2004
M.Sc., 1994; Department of Biological Sciences (with emphasis in behavioral ecology), Simon Fraser University 1994
B.A.1989; Department of Zoology, University of Georgia 1989
Awards & Honors
Southeastern Conference Travel Award, Collaborative research on sterol physiology in natural populations of aphids. Dr. Spencer Behmer (co-PI), Texas A & M, College Station 2014
Jeffrey Nordhaus Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, Vanderbilt University 2013
Best Mentor Award, Department of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University 2011
NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Microbial Biology 2002
Robert W. Hoshaw Memorial Scholarship, University of Arizona 2001
Publications (as Associate Professor)
LaBella AL, Abraham A, Pichkar Y. et al. 2020. Accounting for diverse evolutionary forces reveals mosaic patterns of selection on human preterm birth loci. Nature Communications 11, 3731.
Birnbaum SSL, Abbot P. 2020. Gene expression and diet breadth in plant-feeding insects: Summarizing trends. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 35, 259-277.
Gloss AD, Abbot P, Whiteman NK. 2019. How interactions with plant chemicals shape insect genomes. Current Opinions in Insect Science 36, 149-156.
Moon JM, Capra JA, Abbot P, & Rokas A. 2019. Immune regulation in eutherian pregnancy: live birth coevolved with novel immune genes and gene regulation. Bioessays 41, 1900072.
Kocher S, Abbot P. 2019. Editorial overview: Major transitions in social behavior in the 21st century. Current Opinion in Insect Science 34, VI-VIII.
Smith SP, Phillips JB, Johnson JL, Abbot P, Capra JA, & Rokas A. 2019. Genome-wide association analysis uncovers variants for reproductive variation across dog breeds and links to domestication. Evolution, Medicince, & Public Policy 1, 2019: 93-103.
Moon JM, Capra JA, Abbot P, & Rokas A. 2019. Signatures of recent positive selection in enhancers across 41 human tissues. G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics 9: 2761-2774.
Eidem HR, Steenwyk J, Wisecaver J, Capra JA, Abbot P, & Rokas A. 2018. integRATE: a desirability-based data integration framework for the prioritization of candidate genes across heterogeneous omics and its application to preterm birth. BMC Medical Genomics.11, 107. doi.org/10.1186/s12920-018-0426-y
Birnbaum SL, Rinker DC, & Abbot P. 2018. Maintaining biological cultures and measuring gene expression in Aphis nerii: A Non-model System for plant-insect interactions. J. Vis. Exp. (138), e58044, doi:10.3791/58044
Abbot P, Eidem HR, & Rokas A. 2018. Preterm Birth. In: Shackelford T., Weekes-Shackelford V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham.
Fewell J & Abbot P. 2018. Insect sociality. IN: Insect Behavior: From Mechanisms to Ecological and Evolutionary Consequences. Córdoba-Aguilar A, González-Tokman D & González-Santoyo I (eds), Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Abbot P, Tooker J, Lawson SP. 2018. Chemical ecology and sociality in aphids: Opportunities and directions. Journal of Chemical Ecology, 16, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-018-0955-z.
Heath J, Abbot P, & Stireman JO. 2018. Adaptive divergence in a defense symbiosis driven from the top down. The American Naturalist 192, E21-E36.
Birnbaum SSL & Abbot P. 2018. Insect adaptations towards plant toxins in milkweed-herbivore systems – a review. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata, 58, 579-589.
Moon JM, Aronoff DM, Capra JA, Abbot P, Rokas A. 2018. Examination of signatures of recent positive selection on genes involved in human sialic acid biology. G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics 8, 1315-1325.
Abbot P & Chapman TC. 2017. Sociality in aphids & thrips. IN: Rubenstein D & Abbot P. (eds) Comparative Social Evolution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Rubenstein D & Abbot P. 2017. The evolution of social evolution. IN: Rubenstein D & Abbot P. (eds) Comparative Social Evolution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Rubenstein D & Abbot P. 2017. Social synthesis: Opportunities for comparative social evolution. IN: Rubenstein D & Abbot P. (eds). Comparative Social Evolution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Abbot P & Capra JA. 2017. What is a placental mammal anyway? eLife, 6:e30994.
Abbot P & Rokas A. 2017. Quick guide: Mammalian Pregnancy. Current Biology 27, R123–R138
Birnbaum SSL, Rinker D, Gerardo N, & Abbot P. 2017. Transcriptional profile and differential fitness across a cardenolide gradient in a specialist milkweed insect. Molecular Ecology, 26, 6742-6741.
Eidem H, McGary KL, Capra JA, Abbot P, & Rokas A. 2017. The transformative potential of an integrative approach to pregnancy. Placenta, 57: 204–215.
Lawson SP, Sigle L, Legan A, Lind A, Mezzanote JN, Honegger WH, & Abbot P. 2017. An alternative pathway to eusociality: Exploring the molecular and functional basis of fortress defense. Evolution, 71, 1986-1998.
Eidem H., Rinker DC, Ackerman WE IV, Buhimschi IA, Buhimschi CS, Dunn-Fletcher C, Kallapur SG, Pavlicev M, Muglia LJ, Abbot P, & Rokas A. 2016. Comparing human and macaque placental transcriptomes to disentangle preterm birth pathology from gestational age effects. Placenta: 41, 71-82.
Kim, M., Cooper BA, Venkat R, Phillips JB, Eidem HR, Hirbo J, Nutakki S, Williams SM, Muglia LJ, Capra JA, Petren K, Abbot P, Rokas A, McGary KL. 2016. GEneSTATION 1.0: a synthetic resource of diverse evolutionary and functional genomic data for studying the evolution of pregnancy-associated tissues and phenotypes. Nucleic Acids Research 44, Database issue: D908-916.
Abbot P. 2015. The physiology and genomics of social transitions in aphids. In: Zayed A, Kent CF, editors. Genomics, Physiology and Behaviour of Social Insects. Vol. 48. Advances in Insect Physiology. Elsevier. pp. 163–188.
Eidem HR, Ackerman WE, McGary KL, Abbot P, Rokas A. 2015. Gestational tissue transcriptomics in term and preterm human pregnancies: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Medical Genomics 8, 529–13.
Phillips JB, Abbot P, Rokas A. 2015. Is preterm birth a human specific syndrome? Evolutionary Medicine and Public Health 2015:136-48.
Hirbo J, Eidem HR, Rokas A, Abbot P. 2015. Integrating diverse types of genomic data to identify genes that underlie adverse pregnancy phenotypes. PLoS ONE 10: e0144155.
Miller DG, Lawson SP, Rinker DC, Estby H, Abbot P. 2015. The origin and genetic differentiation of the socially parasitic aphid Tamalia inquilinus. Molecular Ecology 24, 5751–5766.
Abbot P. 2014. Ecological Genomics. Oxford Online Bibliography: Ecology.
Lawson SP, Christian N, & Abbot P. 2014. Comparative analysis of the biodiversity of fungal endophytes in insect-induced galls and surrounding foliar tissue. Fungal Diversity 66, 89–97.
Lawson SP, Legan AW, Graham C, & Abbot P. 2014. Comparative phenotyping across a social transition in aphids. Animal Behaviour 96, 117–125.
Cobbs C., Heath J, Stireman JO, & Abbot P. 2013. The evolution of laterally-transferred genes for carotenoid biosynthesis in gall midges. Molecular Phylogenetics & Evolution, 68, 221-228.
Stireman JO, Devlin H, & Abbot P. 2012. Rampant host and defensive phenotype associated diversification in a goldenrod gall midge. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 25, 1991-2004.
Erickson DM, Wood EA, Oliver KM, Billick I, & Abbot P. 2012. The effect of ants on the population dynamics of a protective symbiont of aphids, Hamiltonella defensa. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 105, 447-453.
Abbot P. 2011. A closer look at the spatial architecture of aphid clones. Molecular Ecology 20, 4587-4589.
Cafaro MJ, Poulsen M, Little AEF, Price SL, Gerardo NM, Wong B, Stuart AE, Larget B, Abbot P, and Currie CR. 2011. Specificity in the symbiotic association between fungus-growing ants and protective Pseudonocardia bacteria. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 278, 1814-1822.
Abbot P, Abe J, Alcock J, et al. 2011. Inclusive fitness theory and eusociality. Nature 471, E1-E4.
Janson EM, Peeden ER, Stireman JO, & Abbot P. 2010. Complexity without co-evolution in a mutualistic symbiosis Journal of Evolutionary Biology 23: 2212-2228.
Mikheyev AS, Mueller UG, & Abbot P. 2010. Comparative dating of attine ant and lepiotaceous cultivar phylogenies reveals coevolutionary synchrony and discord. The American Naturalist 175: E126-E133.
Grogan K, Chhatre V, & Abbot P. 2010. The cost of conflict in aphid societies. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 23: 185-193.
Stireman JO, Devlin H, Carr TG, & Abbot P. 2010. Evolutionary diversification of the gall midge genus Asteromyia (Cecidomyiidae) in a multitrophic context. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 54: 194-210.
Gibbons JG, Janson EM, Hittinger CT, Johnston M, Abbot P, & Rokas A. 2009. The applicability of short-read next generation sequencing to evolutionary studies of non-model organisms. Molecular Biology and Evolution 26: 2731-2744.
Janson EM, Grebenok RJ, Behmer ST & Abbot P. 2009. Same host-plant, different sterols: variation in sterol metabolism in an insect herbivore community. Journal of Chemical Ecology 35: 1309-1319.
Rokas A & Abbot P. 2009. Harnessing genomics for evolutionary insights. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 24: 192-200.
Abbot P. 2009. On dispersal and altruism in aphids. Evolution 63: 2687-2696.
Chhatre V, Morales M, & Abbot P. 2009. Isolation and characterization of nine microsatellite loci in an ant-tended treehopper, Publilia concava. Molecular Ecology Resources 9: 1185-1188.
Stireman JO, Janson EM, Carr TG, Devlin H, & Abbot P. 2008. Evolutionary radiation of Asteromyia carbonifera (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) gall morphotypes on the goldenrod Solidago altissima (Asteraceae). Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 95: 840-858.
Abbot P, Grinath J, Brown J, Peeden E, Erickson D, & Billick I. 2008. Insect herbivore stoichiometry: The relative importance of host plants and ant mutualists. Ecological Entomology 33: 497-502.
Janson EM, Stireman JO, Singer ME & Abbot P. 2008. Perspective: Phytophagous insect-microbe mutualisms and adaptive evolutionary diversification. Evolution 62: 997-1012.
2007 and earlier: see my Google Scholar page
Books/ Edited Volumes
Abbot P & Kocher S. (editors). COIS Social insects (2019): A major transition in the 21st Century. Current Opinions in Insect Science. forthcoming.
Rubenstein DR & Abbot P. 2017. Comparative Social Evolution. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.
Invited Presentations & Conferences (as Associate Professor)
Plants, insects and genes: Wait, what’s the question? Mountain Lake Biological Station. 2019
Chemical ecology and sociality in aphids: opportunities and directions. International Society of Chemical Ecology, 2019
Aphid social behavior. 41st Winter Animal Behavior Conference, Steamboat Springs, Co. 2019
Taking stock: Comparative social evolution. Entomological Society of America meeting. 2019
Division of labor from 50,000 evolutionary feet. Entomological Society of America 2018
Sociality at the plant-insect interface, University of Southern Mississippi, Department of Biological Sciences. 2017
Transcriptional profile and differential fitness across a cardenolide gradient in a specialist milkweed insect. Symposium on Insect-Plant Interactions, Society for the Study of Plant-Insect Interactions. 2017
Detoxification and sequestration in a specialist aphid: functional mechanisms and eco-evolutionary patterns: ecological specialization and expression plasticity. Gordon Research Conference. Plant-Insect Interactions. 2017
Predation, polymorphism and diversifying selection in a defense symbiosis. Gordon Research Conference, Animal Microbe Symbioses. 2015
Sociality at the plant-insect interface, Columbia University, Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology. 2015
Sociality at the plant-insect interface, Simon Fraser University, Department of Biological Sciences. 2014
The transition to sociality at the plant-insect interface. University of Tennessee, Chattanooga, Department of Biology. 2014
Viruses and the functional toolkit in social evolution, International Union for the Study of Social Insects, Cairns, Australia. 2014
Sociality at the plant-insect interface. Occidental College, Department of Biology
Mutualisms between animals and microbes, and the shape of evolution. University of Memphis, Department of Biological Sciences. 2014
Cooperation and conflict at the plant-insect interface. University of California, Davis, Department of Entomology. 2014
How co-evolution and conflict drive cooperation at the plant-insect interface. North Carolina State University, Department of Entomology. 2013
How co-evolution and conflict drive cooperation at the plant-insect interface. University of Montana, Department of Biology. 2013
How co-evolution and conflict drive cooperation at the plant-insect interface. University of Alabama-Huntsville, Department of Biology. 2013
Optimism, skepticism and history lessons in the age of “-omics”. Keynote address, Annual Graduate Student Symposium, Oklahoma State University. 2012
Lateral gene transfer, carotenoids and gall midges. International Congress of Entomology, Daegu, South Korea. 2012
Cautionary tales on the road to adaptation in the age of –omics. Summer workshop, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology. 2012
Fungal partners in the diversification of gall midges. Annual meeting, Society of General Microbiology, Harrogate, UK. 2011
Competition, coevolution, and cooperative alliances (or how to build a social aphid). Indiana University, Bloomington, Department of Biology. 2011
Social aphids, gall midges, and the evolution of cooperation and defense. University of Georgia, Athens, Department of Entomology. 2011
External Funding
March of Dimes, The March of Dimes Prematurity Research Collaborative of Ohio: The Genomics of Pre-Term Birth (Dr. Lou Muglia, PI); 2013-present
National Science Foundation, IOS-1147033, The transition to sociality at the plant-insect interface; 2012-2016
National Science Foundation, Research Experience for Undergraduates, supplementary award, The transition to sociality at the plant-insect interface; 2013
National Science Foundation, DEB EPE-0614483, Research Opportunity Award, Collaborative Research: Adaptive radiation of a gall midge-fungus mutualism in a multitrophic context; 2010-2012
National Science Foundation, DEB EPE-0614483, Collaborative Research: Adaptive radiation of a gall midge-fungus mutualism in a multitrophic context. 2006-2010.
National Science Foundation, IOB-0417006, Biology of intruders & cheating in social aphids. 2004-2008
National Science Foundation, Starter Grant, (with DBI #0102094): The Evolutionary Genetics of a Vector-Borne Zoonotic Pathogen in Natural Populations: Bartonella in the Coastal Plain and Barrier Islands of the Southeastern United States. 2004
National Science Foundation, Postdoctoral Fellowship in Microbial Biology, DBI #0102094: "Evolutionary patterns and processes in symbiotic fungi associated with fungus-growing ants." 2002-2004
Internal Funding
Vanderbilt University Central Discovery Grant, Soldiers who want to be monarchs: The role of plant chemistry in social evolution; 2012-2014.
Vanderbilt University Central Discovery Grant, Spatial and molecular ecology of conditional mutualisms between ants and membracids; 2005-2007.
Teaching
BSCI 3239 Evolution of Behavior. I developed this course in 2016 (3 credits). Both undergraduates and graduate students enrolled in 2016, with an enrollment of 21 students.
BSCI 3289, Ecology. I have been the instructor in Ecology (3 credits) since 2005. The course has a typical enrollment of about 30 upper-level, and in addition to biological sciences, draws from several majors across campus. In 2016, I will begin teaching a course on the evolution of behavior, in lieu of Ecology.
BSCI 1511, Introductory Biology. I have shared a section of Introductory Biology (3 credits) since 2007. The course has a typical enrollment of about 200+ students, most of whom are freshmen and sophomores, many of whom are interested in careers in medicine and health.
Interdisciplinary Graduate Program FOCUS. This is a graduate level course that involves discussing key papers in molecular and cell biology, and genetics.
BSCI 3860/3861. These courses comprise our introduction to research for BSCI majors.
BSCI 3965, Undergraduate Seminar. For several semesters from 2004 to 2006, I taught an undergraduate seminar (1 credit) in conservation biology, covering such topics as climate change and river and wetland ecology. I recently taught a collaborative seminar on comparative social evolution with Dr. Dustin Rubenstein (Columbia), Dr. Eileen Lacey (Berkeley), and Dr. Jennifer Fewell (Arizona State). This course met simultaneously at the four universities, with students working collaboratively across each. The culmination was a video lecture to the entire group by Dr. Bert Hoelldobler.
BSCI 6336, Graduate Seminar in Ecology and Evolution. This course is taught on a rotating basis each semester by faculty in the ecology and evolution group in Biological Sciences. It involves readings, presentations, and discussions by graduate students and faculty on current topics and literature. In 2012, I organized a special version of this seminar, and recruited researchers from nearby universities to come each week to speak to a broad group of researchers and students throughout the university with interests in ecology and evolution.
Vanderbilt Summer Academy, 2011 & 2013. This is a week-long ecology field course for high school students.
Various guest lectures in courses ranging from Vector Biology to the Neurobiology of Behavior
Graduate Students & Postdoc Associates
Michelle Moon, 2014-2019.
Stephanie Birnbaum, 2014-2019
Jibril Hirbo, 2013-2015
Sarah Lawson, 2009-2014
Cassidy Cobbs 2009-2014
Eric Janson, 2004-2010
Dan Erickson, 2007-2010
Undergrad Student Research
Dan O’Connell, 2006
Allison Bray, 2006
Lauren Eller, 2006
Julia Brown, 2007
Charles Hassett, 2007
Katie Grogan, 2008
Emily Peeden, 2008
Jessica Mezzanote, 2010
Jessie Cox, 2010
Elizabeth Wood, 2011
Robin Frede, 2011
Brittany Pidgeon, 2011
Natalie Christian, 2012
Hayden Hill, 2012
Heather Estby, 2013
Andrew Legan, 2014
Max Kushner, 2015
Joan Coker, 2015
Emily Neil, 2015
Catie Mitchell, 2017
Daniel Shaykevich, 2018
Ansley Petherick, 2019
Service
Program Director, National Science Foundation, BIO-IOS, 2019-present
Chair, Faculty Council, College of Arts & Sciences, Vanderbilt University, 2018-2019
Vice Chair, Department of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, 2014-2019
Director of Undergraduate Studies, Department of Biological Sciences, 2017-2018
Faculty Council, College of Arts & Sciences, Vanderbilt University, 2017-2019
Chair, Curriculum Committee, Department of Biological Sciences, 2015-2019
Special Section Editor, Social Insects, Current Opinions in Insect Science, 2019
Member, Search Committee, Lecturer in Biological Sciences, multiple
Member, College of Arts & Sciences Curriculum Committee, 2017-2019
Member, Nance Prize Committee, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, 2016-2019
Member, Science & Engineering Library Director Search Committee, Vanderbilt University, 2017
Chair, Graduate Policy Committee, Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, 2009-2013
Departmental Seminar Committee, Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, 2005-2009
Faculty search committees, Department of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, multiple
Organizer, Annual Darwin Day at Vanderbilt
Bugs for 3rd graders! Una Elementary School, Nashville, Tennessee
Member, Junior Advisory Research Committee, College of the Arts and Sciences, Vanderbilt University
Panelist, Program in Career Development, Vanderbilt University, 2014
Panelist, National Science Foundation, IOS & DEB, multiple
Working group member, National Evolutionary Synthesis Center, 2012-2013
Associate editor, Evolution, 2007-2009
Chair, Board of Directors, Highlands Biological Station, Highlands, North Carolina, 2014-present
Co-organizer, Member Symposium: Ecological and Evolutionary Origins of Sociality: Connecting Commonalities of Social Behavior Across Diverse Insect Taxa. Annual meeting of the Entomological Society of America, Austin, Texas, 2012
Co-organizer, Member Symposium: Social evolution in other taxa. Annual meeting of the Entomological Society of America, Indianapolis, Indiana; 2014
Organizer & developer, Workshop on biotechnology for secondary school instructors and non-biologists; Vanderbilt University and Nashville Metro Schools, Nashville, TN, 2006