CONTRIBUTIONS TO EVOLUTION

My research career began with a study of population dynamics of lizards in the deserts of West Texas. Though later I moved to other fields, I have recurrently returned to questions related to population biology, evolutionary theory, and ecological adaptations. Thus, ecology and evolution are the oldest and longest theme in my history as a scientist. My major contributions to this field include:

• With Charles Beck and inspired by Arto Annila, provided a comprehensive explanation for why evolution in any natural system occurs;
• Showed that lizard activity is controlled by solar insolation more than temperature, and that apparent monogamy in Uta stansburiana is an artifact of territoriality;
• With Donald Tinkle, established that reproductive cycling in Uta stansburiana females, unlike that in most ectothermic vertebrates, is controlled more by temperature than daylength;
• With Carol Irwin, showed that reptiles generate the most complex ganglioside patterns among the vertebrates; and 
• With Natalia Avrova, used a cladistics algorithm to propose an evolutionary trajectory for the diversification of ganglioside metabolic pathways (my only paper in Russian).

Below are my major publications in evolution and ecology, with notable contributions to the field indicated by asterisks.

BOOKS

*Beck, C.H.M. and L.N. Irwin. 2021. The Evolutionary Imperative: Why Change Happens, Where It Leads, and How We Might Survive. Bloomington, IN.: Xlibris Publishing

RESEARCH REPORTS

*Irwin, L.N. 1965. Diel activity and social interaction in the lizard Uta stansburiana stejnegeri. Copeia. 1965: 99-101.

*Tinkle, D.W. and L.N. Irwin. 1965. Lizard reproduction: refractory period and response to warmth in Uta stansburiana females. Science. 148: 1613-1614. 

*Irwin, L.N. and C.C. Irwin. 1979. Phylogenetic and regional variation of ganglioside patterns from brains of tetrapods. Comp. Biochem. Physiol. 64B: 121-123. 

Irwin, L.N. 1982. Ganglioside variations in amphibian brain tissue. Biochem. System. Ecol. 10: 257-261. 

Irwin, L.N. and K. Schwartz. 1983. Amphibian brain gangliosides: pattern analysis by two dimensional thin layer chromatography. Comp. Biochem. Physiol. 76B: 649-651. 

Gross, S.K., R.H. McCluer, and L.N. Irwin. 1986. Glucosylceramide in the androgen-responsive kidney of the lizard Anolis carolinensis. Arch Biochem Biophys. 274: 446-469. 

*Irwin, L.N. and K. Talentino. 1990. Brain ganglioside patterns and effect of thermal acclimation in North American salamanders. Compar. Biochem. Physiol. 96B: 471-473.

Irwin, L.N., K.A. Talentino, and D.A. Caruso. 1998. Nutritional requirements and metabolism of juvenile axolotls: effect of fasting and thermal acclimation. Exp Biol Online 3: 1

*Avrova, N.F. and Irwin, L. 2002. Nobie podkodii k analyzy variatsii sostaba gangliozidob mozga, sbyazannih s idioadaptatsiyami i aromorfozom pozvonochni [New approaches to analysis of variations in brain ganglioside composition related to idioadaptations and aromorphosis of vertebrates] Zhur. Evolutz. Biochim. Physiol. 38: 543-551.

Pope-Delatorre, H., S. Das, Irwin, L.N. 2005. Uptake of [3H]-Gangliosides by an Intestinal Protozoan, Giardia lamblia. Parasitol. Res. 96: 102-106.

Schulze-Makuch, D., B. Laval, L.N. Irwin. 2012. The rise of complexity: Pavilion Lake microbialites suggest a pathway toward macroorganismic communities. Hypoth. Life Sci. 2: 55-59.

Schulze-Makuch, D., D. Lim , B. Laval, C. Turse, M. Resendes de Sousa António, O. Chan, S. B. Pointing, A. Brady, D. Reid, L. N. Irwin. 2012. Pavilion Lake microbialites: morphological, molecular, and biochemical evidence for a cold-water transition to colonial aggregates. Life 2: 1-x manuscripts; doi:10.3390/life20x000x