Scott Pitnick

Weeden Professor of Biology

CONTACT

Biology
252 Life Sciences Complex
Email: sspitnic@syr.edu
Office: 315.443.5128

Degrees

NSF Postdoctoral Fellow (1994)
Ph.D., Arizona State University (1992)
B.S., Cornell University (1986)

Social/Academic Links

Pitnick Research Page

Courses Taught

BIO 417: Laboratory in Animal Behavior and Evolution
BIO 400/600: Sexual Selection
BIO 454: Evolution
BIO 797: Topics in Evolution

Research Specializations

Sexual selection, speciation, evolution of reproductive and life history traits.

Current Funding

National Science Foundation: DEB-1811805, EAGER: Drosophila evolutionary phenomics: Public resource to support genotype-phenotype studies (PI: S. Pitnick; Co-PIs: S. Dorus, N. Clark, E. Sedore) 2018-2020.
National Science Foundation: Research Experience for Teachers Supplement to DEB-1655840. 2018.
National Science Foundation: DEB-1655840, The molecular life history of male gametes (PI: S. Dorus; Co-PIs: S. Pitnick, J. M. Belote, M. F. Wolfner) 2017-2020.
National Institutes of Health, NICHD: R21-HD088910, Male Reproductive Health Program, Fertility and Infertility Branch. Sperm motility and molecular interactions in the reproductive tract (PI: S. Dorus; Co-PIs: S. Pitnick, M. F. Wolfner and J. Belote) 2017-2019.
National Science Foundation: IOS-1501328, DISSERTATION RESEARCH: The evolution of alternative mating tactics in the yellow dung fly (PI: S. Pitnick; Co-PI: B. Gress) 2015-2018.
Philanthropic Educational Organization: Scholarship Award (to C. McDonough) 2018-2019.
National Science Foundation: Graduate Research Fellowship (PI: C. McDonough) 2015-2018.

Selected Publications

Lüpold S, Pitnick S. 2018. Sperm form and function: what do we know about the role of sexual selection? Reproduction 155: 229-243.
Rohner PT, Pitnick S, Blanckenhorn WU, Snook RR, Bächli G, Lüpold S. 2018. Global macroecology of size, sexual size dimorphism, dispersal and range size in fruit flies (Diptera: Drosophilidae). Ecography 41: 1-11.
Lüpold, S., M. K. Manier, N. Puniamoorthy, C. Schoff, W. T. Starmer, S. H. Buckley Luepold, J. M. Belote and S. Pitnick. 2016. How sexual selection can drive the evolution of costly sperm ornamentation. Nature 533: 535-538.
Manier, M. K., J. M. Belote, W. T. Starmer, K. S. Berben, S. Lüpold, O. Ala-Honkola, W. F. Collins and S. Pitnick. 2013. Postcopulatory sexual selection generates speciation phenotypes in Drosophila. Current Biology 23: 1853-1862.
Lüpold, S., S. Pitnick, K. S. Berben, C. Blengini, J. M. Belote and M. K. Manier. 2013. Female mediation of competitive fertilization success in Drosophila melanogaster. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 110: 10693-10698.
Lüpold, S., M. K. Manier, K. S. Berben, K. J. Smith, B. D. Daley, S. H. Buckley, J. M. Belote and S. Pitnick. 2012. Sperm form, function and fitness: how multiple ejaculate traits determine competitive fertilization success. Current Biology 22: 1667-1672.
Higginson, D. M., K. B. Miller, K. A. Segraves and S. Pitnick. 2012. Female reproductive tract form drives the evolution of complex sperm morphology. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 109: 4538-4543.
Immler, S., S. Pitnick, G. A. Parker, S. Lüpold, K. Durrant, S. Calhim and T.R. Birkhead. 2011. Resolving variation in reproductive trade-offs: sperm production in birds and flies. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 108 : 5325-30.
Manier, M. K., J. M. Belote, K. S. Berben, D. Novikov, W. T. Stuart and S. Pitnick. 2010. Resolving mechanisms of competitive fertilization success in Drosophila melanogaster. Science 328: 354-357.
Birkhead, T.R., D.J. Hosken and S. Pitnick (eds.) 2009. Sperm Biology: An Evolutionary Perspective. Academic Press, London.
Bjork, A. and S. Pitnick. 2006. Intensity of sexual selection along the anisogamy-isogamy continuum. Nature 441: 742-745.
Miller, G. T. and S. Pitnick. 2002. Sperm-female coevolution in Drosophila. Science 298: 1230-1233.
Karr, T. L. and S. Pitnick. 1996. The ins and outs of fertilization. Nature 379: 405-406.