Robert Cox - News

Can Testosterone Inhibit Growth?

By Kathryn Phillips

Journal of Experimental Biology (2005) Inside JEB 208: iii

This short article highlights a publication in which Henry John-Alder and I reported that testosterone can have either inhibitory or stimulatory effects on growth, depending upon the species of lizard ( PDF of our paper). Interestingly, testosterone appears to inhibit male growth in species where females are the larger sex, while stimulating growth when males are the larger sex. Check out the cute cartoon drawn by Frank Fish to accompany this article. Are those lizards, or mammals?!? Click here to view the article and the cartoon.

Lizards, Sex and Size:

Selective Pressures Affecting Sexual Size Dimorphism in Lizards

By David Pickens

Cross/Section: The Magazine of Research Across the Disciplines at the Graduate School—New Brunswick

Cross/Section is an annual magazine that highlights the diversity of research projects conducted by graduate students at Rutgers. This article summarizes my graduate studies of lizards in New Jersey and Arizona by comparing and contrasting my findings with some of Charles Darwin’s ideas about sexual dimorphism and sexual selection. The image to the left is a pencil drawing of male and female eastern fence lizards (Sceloporus undulatus) in the New Jersey pinelands from the magazine cover. Click here to view the magazine article.