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Post-Doctoral Associates
William A. Woods Jr.
Department of Biology and Biomimetic Devices
Laboratory
Biomechanics, energetics and temperature
relations of locomoting insects
William A. Woods Jr. received his Ph.D. and B.S. in Biology from the University
of Massachusetts Boston in 2004 and 1996 respectively. He is presently a
Postdoctoral Associate in the laboratory of Barry Trimmer in the Biology
Department and also affiliated with the Biomimetic Devices Laboratory. Woody
takes what might be called an automotive mechanics approach to understanding
animal function; animals have engines, transmissions, springs, shock absorbers,
brakes and radiators, and are concerned with issues like gas mileage, load
capacity, and weather. His present research focus is on the dynamic properties
and functional characteristics of caterpillar muscle, and the extent to which
some control functionality during locomotion may reside in the material
properties of the muscle material. In further research, he measures energy costs
of insect behaviors and has led research at the Argonne National Laboratory
Advanced Photon Source to characterize the role of blood movement in caterpillar
crawling.
Publications
- Woods W. A. Jr., Stevenson R.D.: Metabolic rate variation over adult lifetime in
the butterfly Vanessa cardui (Nymphalidae: Nymphalinae): aging, feeding
and repeatability. Physiological and Biochemical Zoology, in press.
- Weiner S.A., William A.W. Jr., Starks P.T.: The energetic costs of stereotyped
behavior in the paper wasp, Polistes dominulus. Naturwissenschaften 96
(2009), 297-302.
- Woods W.A. Jr., Fusillo S.J., Trimmer
B.A.: Dynamic properties of a locomotory
muscle of the tobacco hornworm Manduca
sexta during strain cycling and
simulated natural crawling. Journal of
Experimental Biology 211 (2008),
873-882.
- Dorfmann A.L., Woods W.A. Jr., Trimmer B.A.: Muscle performance in a soft-bodied
terrestrial crawler: constitutive modeling of strain-rate dependency. Journal
of the Royal Society Interface 5
(2008), 349-362.
- Woods W.A. Jr., Hendrickson H., Mason J., Lewis S.M.: Energy and predation costs
of firefly courtship signals. American Naturalist 170
(2007), 702-708.
- Dorfmann, A., Trimmer B.A., Woods W.A. Jr.: A constitutive model for muscle
properties in a soft-bodied arthropod. Journal of the Royal Society Interface 4
(2007), 257-269.
- Stevenson R. D., Woods W.A. Jr.: Condition indices for conservation: new uses
for evolving tools. Integrative and Comparative Biology 46
(2006), 1169-1190.
- Woods W.A. Jr., Heinrich B., Stevenson R. D.: Honeybee flight metabolic rate:
does it depend upon air temperature? Journal of Experimental Biology 208
(2005), 1161-1173.
Conference
Presentations
- Woods W.A. Jr., Trimmer B.A., Force development and temperature are inversely
related for caterpillar muscles during in vitro crawling: wait, isn’t
that backwards? 2009 Annual Meeting of East Coast Nerve Net, Woods Hole,
MA.
- Woods W.A. Jr., Trimmer B.A., Effects of temperature on dynamic properties of
active and passive caterpillar muscle: Q10
< 1? 2009 Annual Meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative
Biology, Boston, MA.
- Woods W.A. Jr., Trimmer B.A.: The effects of nitric oxide and temperature on
dynamic properties of caterpillar muscle. 2008 Annual Meeting of East Coast
Nerve Net, Woods Hole, MA.
- Woods W.A. Jr., vanGriethuijsen L., Trimmer B.A.: Climbing on the floor:
Kinematics and energy cost of locomotion for horizontal and vertical crawling
are not different. 2008 Annual Meeting of the Society for Integrative and
Comparative Biology, San Antonio, TX.
- Woods W.A. Jr., Dorfmann A.L., Trimmer B.A.: Experimental characterization and
numerical modeling of muscle properties in a soft-bodied arthropod. 2007
Annual Meeting of East Coast Nerve Net, Woods Hole, MA.
- Woods W.A. Jr., Holly Hendrickson H., Jennifer Mason J., Lewis S.M.: Energy and
predation costs of firefly courtship signals. 2007 Annual Meeting of the
Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, Phoenix, AZ.
- Woods W.A. Jr., Fusillo S.J., Trimmer B.A: Power brakes? The role of a slow,
stretchy muscle during caterpillar crawling. 2006 Annual Meeting of East
Coast Nerve Net, Woods Hole, MA.
- Woods W.A. Jr., Fusillo S.J, Trimmer B.A.: Caterpillar calisthenics: dynamics
of a slow, stretchy muscle during strain cycling and simulated crawling.
Integrative and Comparative Biology 44. 2006 Annual Meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology,
Orlando, FL.
- Woods W.A.
Jr., Trimmer B.A.: The biomechanics of muscle in a soft-bodied insect. 2005
Annual Meeting of East Coast Nerve Net, Woods Hole, MA.
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