Biology and Molecular Biology

122 Science Hall     (973) 655-5426

kights@mail.montclair.edu

Advising Coordinator: MS in Biology, BS/MS in Biology

Teaching Interests

Dr. Kight teaches from an integrative perspective.  Biology is a unified theory: to understand any aspect of biology, one must integrate information at the molecular level, the physiological level, the organismal level and the ecological level.  New insight emerges from this approach that would be lost with focus on just a single level of biological organization.  To this end, Dr. Kight's courses are built on the framework of evolutionary biology -- the common thread running through DNA and ecosystems.

Courses Taught

BIOL 100.  Biological Sciences

BIOL 113.  Principles of Biology II

BIOL 199.  Freshman Seminar in Biology

BIOL 330.  Introduction to Animal Behavior

BIOL 417.  Evolution and Systematics

BIOL 431.  Entomology

BIOL 432.  Medical Entomology

BIOL 436.  Phylogenetic Zoology

BIOL 480.  Research Community I: Organism Biology

BIOL 481.  Research Community II: Organism Biology

BIOL 484.  Research Community I: Ecology

BIOL 485.  Research Community II: Ecology

BIOL 490.  Senior Seminar in Biology

BIOL 518.  Strategies for Teaching College Biology

BIOL 532.  Advanced Entomology

BIOL 570.  Ecology

BIOL 580.  Evolutionary Mechanisms

HONP 211.  Honors Contemporary Issues in Science

PHED 401.  The Teaching of Science in Secondary Schools

Research

The fundamental mechanism of natural selection is differential reproduction – selection favors individuals that reproduce better than others.  Dr. Kight studies an apparent paradox: animals sometimes bring about the death of their own offspring.  His laboratory investigates this behavioral pattern in several arthropod species, including giant water bugs (Belostoma flumineum) and terrestrial isopods (Porcellio laevis & Armadillidium vulgare).  In giant water bugs, care of young is paternal: females oviposit eggs on the backs of males. Isopod females carry developing eggs and young in a marsupial pouch.  In both species, however, parental investment is sometimes terminated before eggs hatch – male water bugs may remove eggs from their backs and female isopods may remove eggs from their marsupia for consumption or abandonment.  Dr. Kight’s research suggests that these patterns do not occur at random.  Instead, natural selection appears to favor shrewd reproductive decisions that sometimes involve short-term reproductive losses but net lifetime reproductive gains.

Publications

Houghtaling, K. & Kight, S.L. 2006. Turn alternation in response to substrate vibration by terrestrial isopods, Porcellio laevis (Isopoda: Oniscidea) from rural and urban habitats in New Jersey, USA. Entomological News. 117: 149-154.

Kight, S.L., Gaynor, J.J. & Adams, S.A. 2006. Undergraduate research communities: A powerful approach to research training. Journal of College Science Teaching. 35: 34-39.

Castillo, M.E. & Kight, S.L. 2005. Response of terrestrial isopods, Armadillidium vulgare and Porcellio laevis (Isopoda: Oniscidea) to the ant Tetramorium caespitum: Morphology, behavior and reproductive success. Invertebrate Reproduction and Development. 47:183-190.

Kight, S.L., Eadie, C., Lynch, D., Coelho, J. & DeWera, A. 2005. Classical conditioning of red-backed salamanders, Plethodon cinereus. Bulletin of the Maryland Herpetological Society. 41:68-84.

Kight, S.L. & Nevo, M. 2004. Female terrestrial isopods, Porcellio laevis Latreille (Isopoda: Oniscidea) reduce brooding duration and fecundity in response to physical stress. Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society. 77:285-287.

Kight, S.L. & Hashemi, A. 2003. Diminished food resources are associated with delayed reproduction or increased post-reproductive mortality in brood-bearing terrestrial isopods, Armadillidium vulgare Latreille. Entomological News. 114: 61-68.

Kight, S.L. & Ozga, M. 2002. Costs of reproduction in the terrestrial isopod Porcellio laevis Latreille (Isopoda: Oniscidea): brood-bearing and locomotion. Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society. 74:166-171.

Kight, S.L., Martinez, M. & Merkulov, A.  2001.  Body size and survivorship in overwintering populations of Porcellio laevis (Isopoda: Oniscidea).  Entomological News. 112: 112-118.

Kight, S.L., Batino, M. and Zhang, Z.  2000.  Temperature-dependent parental investment in giant waterbugs, Belostoma flumineum Say (Heteroptera: Belostomatidae).  Annals of the Entomological Society of America. 93:340-342. 

Kight, S.L. 2000. Altered photocyclic regimes influence the duration of maternal care in a burrower bug (Heteroptera: Cydnidae).  Entomological News. 111:67-73.      

Kight, S.L. and Cseke, J.J. 1999.  The effects of ambient temperature on the duration of maternal care in a burrower bug (Heteroptera: Cydnidae).  Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society.  71:183-187.

Kight, S.L. 1998.  Precocene II modifies maternal responsiveness in the burrower bug, Sehirus             cinctus (Heteroptera).  Physiological Entomology.  23:38-42.

Krall, B.S., Zilkowski, B.W., Kight, S.L., Bartelt, R.J. & Whitman, D.W. 1997.  Chemistry and defensive efficacy of the secretion of the burrower bug (Sehirus cinctus cinctus).  Journal of Chemical Ecology.  23:1951-1962.

Kight, S.L. 1997.  Factors influencing maternal behavior in a burrower bug, Sehirus cinctus, (Hemiptera: Cydnidae).  Animal Behaviour.  53:105-112

Kight, S.L. 1996. Post-conflict behavior in Japanese macaques at the Indianapolis zoo: Age of opponents influences reconciliation.  Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Science.  105:269-276.

Kight, S.L., Rozema Jenkins, J. & Ng, B. 1996.  Differential contact behavior by female             whirligig beetles, Dineutus assimilis Kirby (Coleoptera: Gyrinidae).  Journal of the             Kansas Entomological Society.  69:360-362

Kight, S.L.  1996.  Concaveation and maintenance of maternal behavior in a burrower bug             (Sehirus cinctus): A comparative perspective.  Journal of Comparative Psychology.              110:69-76

Kight, S.L., Sprague, J., Kruse, K.C. & Johnson, L.  1995.  Are egg-bearing male water bugs, Belostoma flumineum Say (Hemiptera: Belostomatidae), impaired swimmers?  Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society  68:468-470.

Kight, S.L.  1995.  Do maternal burrower bugs, Sehirus cinctus Palisot (Heteroptera: Cydnidae),             use spatial and chemical cues for egg-discrimination?  Canadian Journal of Zoology              73:815-817.

Kight, S.L. & K.C. Kruse.  1992.  Factors affecting the allocation of paternal care in waterbugs             (Belostoma flumineum Say).  Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology  30:409-414