Biology: Life on Earth

TERRY AND GERRY AUDESIRK
grew up in New Jersey, where they met as undergraduates. After marrying in 1970, they moved to California, where Terry earned her doctorate in marine ecology at the University of Southern California and Gerry earned his doctorate in neurobiology at the California Institute of Technology. As postdoctoral students at the University of Washington’s marine laboratories, they worked together on the neural bases of behavior, using a marine mollusk as a model system.
They are now emeritus professors of biology at the University of Colorado Denver, where they taught introductory biology and neurobiology from 1982 through 2006. In their research, funded primarily by the National Institutes of Health, they investigated the mechanisms by which neurons are harmed by low levels of environmental pollutants and protected by estrogen.
Terry and Gerry share a deep appreciation of nature and of the outdoors. They enjoy hiking in the Rockies, walking near their home in Steamboat Springs, and attempting to garden at 7,000 feet in the presence of hungry deer and elk. They are long-time members of many conservation organizations. Their daughter, Heather, provides another welcome focus to their lives.

BRUCE E. BYERS
is a midwesterner transplanted to the hills of western Massachusetts, where he is a professor in the biology department at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He’s been a member of the faculty at UMass (where he also completed his doctoral degree) since 1993. Bruce teaches introductory biology courses for both nonmajors and majors; he also teaches courses in ornithology and animal behavior.
A lifelong fascination with birds ultimately led Bruce to scientific exploration of avian biology. His current research focuses on the behavioral ecology of birds, especially on the function and evolution of the vocal signals that birds use to communicate. The pursuit of vocalizations often takes Bruce outdoors, where he can be found before dawn, tape recorder in hand, awaiting the first songs of a new day.