Rate My Professor Lawrence Weider

Weider's research focuses on evolutionary ecology, population and ecological genetics, aquatic ecology, physiological ecology, life-history evolution, metapopulation dynamics, and conservation ecology, using the freshwater zooplankton genus Daphnia as a primary model organism. He investigates mechanisms such as selection and migration that maintain genetic diversity through molecular techniques including DNA sequencing and ecological approaches like life-table and selection experiments. Key publications include Frisch et al. (2014) 'A millennial-scale chronicle of evolutionary responses to cultural eutrophication in Daphnia' in Ecology Letters; Jeyasingh and Weider (2007) 'Fundamental links between genes and elements: evolutionary relevance of ecological stoichiometry' in Molecular Ecology; Weider et al. (2005) 'Genotype × environment interactions, stoichiometric food quality effects, and clonal coexistence in Daphnia pulex' in Oecologia; Kerfoot and Weider (2004) 'Experimental paleoecology ("Resurrection ecology"): chasing Van Valen’s "Red Queen Hypothesis"' in Limnology & Oceanography; and Weider and Hobæk (2003) 'Glacial refugia, haplotype distributions, and clonal richness in the Daphnia pulex complex in arctic Canada' in Molecular Ecology. He co-edited a special issue of Evolutionary Applications on resurrection ecology in 2018 and served as Associate Editor for Genetica from 2006 to 2008. Weider has held roles such as Chair of the College of Arts & Sciences Tenure & Promotion Committee (2018-2020), member of the OU Faculty Appeals Board (2018-2022), and representative on the National Ecological Observatory Network Domain Science & Education Coordinating Committee. His honors include the 2019 University of Oklahoma Regents’ Award for Superior Teaching, Max-Planck-Gesellschaft Postdoctoral Fellowship (1987), and NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship (1984).