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Research Interests
Dr. Crampton’s research program investigates the ecological, behavioral, and evolutionary mechanisms that generate and regulate species diversity. With more than 6,000 species, Neotropical freshwater fishes represent the richest vertebrate fauna on earth (c. 10% of all vertebrates). He is interested in how this diversity is generated and maintained, how resilient it is to human pressure, and how it can be protected. To approach these questions he uses, as a model group, the gymnotiform electric knifefishes. These remarkable fishes generate stereotyped, species-specific electric communication signals that provide an unparalleled opportunity to understand the mechanisms of diversification. He is currently focusing on whether communication signals can drive speciation in electric fishes. He is also undertaking a long term program of freshwater fish biodiversity inventories in the Amazon basin.
Selected Publications
Crampton, W.G.R. & Albert, J.S. (2006). Evolution of electric signal diversity in gymnotiform fishes. I. phylogenetic systematics, ecology and biogeography. pp. 647-696. In: Communication in Fishes (Eds. F. Ladich, S.P. Collin, P. Moller & B.G Kapoor). Science Publishers Inc., Enfield, NH.
Crampton, W.G.R. (2006). Evolution of electric signal diversity in gymnotiform fishes. II. signal design. pp. 696-731. In: Communication in Fishes (Eds. F. Ladich, S.P. Collin, P. Moller & B.G Kapoor). Science Publishers Inc., Enfield, NH.
Lovejoy, N.R., Albert, J.S. & Crampton, W.G.R. (2006). Miocene marine incursions and marine/freshwater transitions: Evidence from Neotropical Fishes. Journal of South American Earth Sciences 21 (1-2): 5-13.
Henderson, P. A., Hamilton, W. D. & Crampton, W. G. R. (2005). Evolution and diversity in Amazonian floodplain communities. pp. 316-348. In: Narrow Roads of Gene Land: The Collected Papers of W.D. Hamilton. Volume 3: Last Words. (Eds. Hamilton, W.D. & Ridley, M). 2005). (Eds.). Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Albert, J.S. & Crampton, W.G.R. (2005). Electroreception and electrogenesis. Pp. 429-470. In: The Physiology of Fishes. 3rd Edition. (Ed. D. Evans). CRC Press, New York.
Albert, J.S. & Crampton, W.G.R. (2005). Diversity and phylogeny of Neotropical electric fishes (Gymnotiformes) pp. 360-403. In: Electroreception (Eds. T.E. Bullock, C.D. Hopkins, A. N. Popper, F.R. Fay). Cornell University Press, Ithaca.
Crampton, W.G.R. & Hopkins, C.D. (2005). Nesting and paternal care in the weakly electric fish Gymnotus (Gymnotiformes: Gymnotidae), with descriptions of larval and adult electric organ discharges of two species. Copeia 2005 (1) 48-60.
Hulen, K.H., Crampton, W.G.R., & Albert, J.S. (2005). Phylogenetic systematics of the Neotropical electric fish Sternopygus (Gymnotiformes: Teleostei). Systematics and Biodiversity. 3 (4) 407-432.
Crampton W.G.R., Castello, L. & Viana, J.P. (2004). Fisheries in the Amazon várzea: Historical trends, current status, and factors affecting sustainability. pp. 76-98. In: People in Nature: Wildlife Conservation in South and Central America (Eds. K. Silvius, R. Bodmer & J. Fragoso). Columbia University Press, N.Y.
Crampton W.G.R., Viana, J.P., Castello, L. & Damasceno, J.M.B. (2004). Fisheries management in the Mamirauá Sustainable Development Reserve. pp. 99-122. In: People in Nature: Wildlife Conservation in South and Central America (Eds. K. Silvius, R. Bodmer & J. Fragoso). Columbia University Press, N.Y.
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