biology

Richard D. Alexander

Richard D. Alexander is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Richard D. Alexander rather than just read about it. In short: Richard Dale Alexander (November 18, 1929 – August 20, 2018) was an American zoologist who was a professor at the University of Michigan and curator at the university's museum of zoology of in Ann Arbor, Michigan. His scientific pursuits integrated the fields of systematics, ecology, evolution, natural history and behavior.

Key takeaways

Richard D. Alexander belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Richard D. Alexander to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Richard D. Alexander from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Richard Dale Alexander (November 18, 1929 – August 20, 2018) was an American zoologist who was a professor at the University of Michigan and curator at the university's museum of zoology of in Ann Arbor, Michigan. His scientific pursuits integrated the fields of systematics, ecology, evolution, natural history and behavior. The salient organisms in his research are wide-ranging, from the orthopterans (grasshoppers, katydids and crickets) and Cicadidae (cicadas) to vertebrates: dogs, horses, and primates, including humans.

Biography Alexander obtained an associate of arts degree from Blackburn College (Carlinville, Illinois) in 1948, a Bachelor of Science in education (biology) and a PhD from Ohio State University in 1956. He joined the University of Michigan faculty in 1957. He was the Donald Ward Tinkle Professor of Evolutionary Biology from 1984 to 1989 and was named the Theodore H. Hubbell Distinguished University Professor of Evolutionary Biology in 1989. He served as director of the Museum of Zoology from 1993 to 1998. For over 40 years, Alexander taught two graduate courses in alternate fall semesters: evolutionary ecology and evolution and behavior; during these semesters he dedicated all his time to prepare his lecture materials — fresh and up-to-date every year — which included many a time novel, provocative ideas from his own students and university colleagues; among which Prof. Donald W. Tinkle, curator of herpetology at the UMMZ and evolutionary biologist, was very prominent until his death in 1980. His course lectures were perhaps the most popular in the schools of natural sciences and natural resources at the university and were often attended by other faculty members and visiting students including many from the social sciences (anthropology, geography, sociology, psychology). In 1974 he created a detailed model for a eusocial vertebrate, having no idea that a mammal with these characteristics actually existed. It turned out that his hypothetical eusocial rodent was a "perfect description" of the naked mole-rat (Heterocephalus glaber).

Publications Alexander's publications related to the evolution of behaviour and its bearing on human nature. After his retirement in 2000, he devoted most of his time to his horse farm, where he bred, reined, trained and rode them.

On humans

Books Darwinism and Human Affairs. Seattle: U. Washington Press. ISBN 0-295-95641-0, 1979. The Biology of Moral Systems. New York: Aldine De Gruyter. ISBN 0-202-01174-7, 1987 Natural Selection and Social Behavior. Recent Research and New Theory. New York: Chiron Press. with D. W. Tinkle (eds.). 1981

Articles The search for an evolutionary philosophy of man. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, Melbourne 84: 99–120. 1971 The evolution of social behaviour. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics. 5:325-383. 1974 Group selection, altruism, and the levels of organization of life. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 9: 449–474. With G. Borgia. 1978 Epigenetic rules and Darwinian algorithms: The adaptive study of learning and development. Ethology and Sociobiology 11:241-303. 1990 How Did Humans Evolve? Reflections on the Uniquely Unique Species. University of Michigan Museum of Zoology Special Publication 1:1-38. 1990 Biological considerations in the analysis of morality. In: M. H. and D. V. Nitecki (eds.). Evolutionary Ethics. State University of New York Press, pp. 162–196. 1993

Video Dick Alexander speaking at Dan Otte symposium

On horses Teaching Yourself to Train Your Horse. Woodlane Farm Books. ISBN 0-9712314-0-0, 2001

On Insects Aggressiveness, territoriality, and sexual behavior in field crickets (Orthoptera - Gryllidae), Behaviour (17) pp. 130–223. 1961

Children's reading The Red Fox and Johnny Valentine's Blue-Speckled Hound. Woodlane Farm Books. ISBN 0-9712314-2-7, 2004 Thumping on Trees. Woodlane Farm Books. ISBN 978-0-9712314-4-3

Honors and awards Newcomb Cleveland Prize from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1961) Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal from the National Academy of Sciences (1971) Elected to the National Academy of Sciences (1974) Amoco Foundation Good Teaching Award (1977) Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award from The University of Michigan (1981) Russell Lectureship (1988) The University of Michigan LSA Senior Distinguished Lecturer (1994) Distinguished Animal Behaviorist, awarded by the Animal Behavior Society (2003)

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Richard D. Alexander

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Richard D. Alexander claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Richard D. Alexander before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Richard D. Alexander ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Richard D. Alexander

In research: Richard D. Alexander appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Richard D. Alexander in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Richard D. Alexander is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1929 births, 2018 deaths, 20th-century American biologists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Richard D. Alexander outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Richard D. Alexander in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Richard D. Alexander means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Richard D. Alexander out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Richard D. Alexander in simple terms?

Why does Richard D. Alexander matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Richard D. Alexander?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Richard D. Alexander.