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University of
Nevada, Reno

Dr. Stephen Jenkins
Professor of Biology
Behavioral and ecology of mammals; research design

Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
1968, A.B., Biology
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
1975, Ph.D., Biology

Current Interests

I retired in 2007 after 37 years of teaching at UNR, long enough to have had several sets of parents and children as students. I studied the behavior and ecology of mammals as familiar as beavers and wild horses and as unfamiliar as kangaroo rats. Most recently I have been interested in the evolution of personalities in kangaroo rats, asking why some are shy and others are bold and why males seem to have more variable personalities than females.

Like most academics, I published technical papers for specialists in professional journals, but I have gradually become convinced of the need for scientists to communicate with a more diverse audience. I have been fortunate to have had some recent opportunities to do this. Wild horses on public lands are a flashpoint of controversy in the western U.S., and I developed a computer model that is used by the Bureau of Land Management to plan population control measures for horses. This model influences how BLM managers interact with advocates for and against controlling horse populations on public lands. In 2004, Oxford University Press published my book, How science works: evaluating evidence in biology and medicine. The book uses several case studies to illustrate key aspects of the process of science for general readers.

In recent years I taught introductory biology for nonmajors, research design for graduate students, and upper-division classes in ecology and mammalogy. I hope to continue educating beginning students and members of the general public about how science works, based on the fervent belief that the thinking tools of science can help everyone lead better lives.

Selected Recent Publications

2004. Jenkins, S. H. How science works: evaluating evidence in biology and medicine. Oxford University Press, New York, x + 227 pages.

2003. Jenkins, S. H., and M. C. Ashley. Wild horse (Equus caballus and allies). Pages 1148-1163 in Wild mammals of North America: Biology, management, and conservation, 2nd edition, edited by G. Feldhamer et al., Johns Hopkins University Press.

2003. Vander Wall, S. B., and S. H. Jenkins. Reciprocal pilferage and the evolution of food-hoarding behavior. Behavioral Ecology 14:656-667.2007.

2007. Dochtermann, N. A., and S. H. Jenkins. Behavioural syndromes in Merriam’s kangaroo rats (Dipodomys merriami): a test of competing hypotheses. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 274:2343-2349.

2008. Jenkins, S. H. How do graduate students in ecology choose a research problem? Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America 89(4):401-406.

2010. Swartz, M. K., S. H. Jenkins, and N. A. Dochtermann. Coexisting desert rodents differ in selection of microhabitats for cache placement and pilferage. Journal of Mammalogy 91:1261-1268.

2011. Jenkins, S. H. Sex differences in repeatability of food-hoarding behaviour of kangaroo rats. Animal Behaviour 81:1155-1162.

2011. Dochtermann, N. A. and S. H. Jenkins. Developing multiple hypotheses in behavioral ecology. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 65:37-45.

University of Nevada Reno
Biology Department m/s 314
Reno, NV 89557

e-mail Dr. Stephen Jenkins
(spam proof) jenkins-at-unr-dot-edu

Office phone
775-784-6188
FAX number
775-784-1302

Additional Links

Jenkins' Homepage