Stephen M. Deban
Curriculum vitae

Current Position

Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, University of South Florida, Fall 2005-present.

Current Address

Department of Biology, SCA 110, 4202 East Fowler Avenue, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33620, USA, http://autodax.net

Research Focus

Evolution of the physiology and biomechanics of movement, and functional morphology in vertebrates.

Education

University of California Berkeley, Ph.D., Integrative Biology, 1997
Northern Arizona University, B.S., Biology, 1991 Summa cum laude

Previous Positions

Research Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, University of Utah, 2004-2005.

Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Biology, University of Utah, 1999-2004.

Visiting Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Experimental Zoology, University of Wageningen, Netherlands, 2002.

Visiting Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Biology, University of Miami, 2001.

Postdoctoral Researcher, Brain Research Institute, University of Bremen, Germany, 1999.

Fellow, Hanse Institute for Advanced Study, Germany, 1998.

Grants and Fellowships

Hanse Institute for Advanced Study Fellowship, Germany, 1998

Annie Alexander Fellowship, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, U.C. Berkeley, 1996

Regents Fellowship, U.C. Berkeley, 1995

 Junea W. Kelly Fellowship, Dept. of Integrative Biology, U.C. Berkeley, 1994

U.C. Berkeley Vice Chancellor Research Fund Award, 1994

Sigma Xi Grant-in-Aid of Research, 1994

Kellogg Research Grant-in-Aid, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, 1993

Regents Fellowship, U.C. Berkeley, 1991-92

Honors

Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor, U.C. Berkeley, 1995-96

NSF Pre-doctoral Fellowship Competition, Honorable Mention, 1991, 1992

Peer-Reviewed Publications (Click on text to download a PDF of a paper)

  1. Carrier, D.R., S.M. Deban and T. Fischbein. 2008. Locomotor function of forelimb protractor and retractor muscles of dogs: evidence of strut-like behavior at the shoulder. Journal of Experimental Biology 211: 150-162. text
  2. Deban, S. M., O'Reilly, J. C., Dicke, U. and van Leeuwen, J. L. 2007. Extremely high-power tongue projection in plethodontid salamanders. Journal of Experimental Biology 210: 655-667. text
  3. Carrier, D.R., S.M. Deban and T. Fischbein. 2006. Locomotor function of the pectoral girdle 'muscular sling' in trotting dogs Journal of Experimental Biology 209: 2224-2237. text
  4. Deban, S.M. and J.C. O'Reilly. 2005. The ontogeny of feeding kinematics in the giant salamander Cryptobranchus alleganiensis: does current function or phylogenetic relatedness predict the scaling patterns of movement? Zoology 108: 155-167. text
  5. Deban, S.M. and U. Dicke. 2004. Activation patterns of the tongue-projector muscle during feeding in the imperial cave salamander, Hydromantes imperialis. Journal of Experimental Biology 207: 2071-2081. text
  6. Deban, S.M. 2003. Constraint and convergence in the evolution of salamander feeding. In: Vertebrate Biomechanics and Evolution, J.-P. Gasc, A. Casinos, and V.L. Bels, eds., BIOS Scientific Publishers, Oxford. 163-180.text (7.7 Mb)
  7. Deban, S.M. and W.M. Olson. 2002. Suction feeding by a tiny predatory tadpole. Nature 420: 41-42.text
  8. O’Reilly, J.C., S.M. Deban and K.C. Nishikawa. 2002. Derived life history characteristics constrain the evolution of aquatic feeding behavior in adult amphibians. In: Topics in Functional and Ecological Vertebrate Morphology: A Tribute to Frits de Vree, P. Aerts, K. D’Août, A. Herrel & R. van Damme, eds., Shaker Publishing, Maastricht, The Netherlands. pp. 153-190.text
  9. Deban, S.M. and D.R. Carrier. 2002. Hypaxial muscle activity during running and breathing in dogs. Journal of Experimental Biology 205: 1953-1967.text
  10. Carrier, D.R., S.M. Deban and J. Otterstrom. 2002. The face that sank the Essex: potential function of the spermaceti organ in aggression. Journal of Experimental Biology 205: 1755-1763.text
  11. Snelderwaard, P., J. De Groot and S.M. Deban. 2002. Digital video combined with conventional radiography creates an excellent high-speed X-ray video system. Journal of Biomechanics 35: 1007-1009. text
  12. Deban, S.M. and S. B. Marks. 2002. Metamorphosis and evolution of feeding behavior in salamanders of the family Plethodontidae. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 134: 375-400.text
  13. Deban, S.M., J.C. O'Reilly and K.C. Nishikawa. 2001. The evolution of the motor control of feeding in amphibians. American Zoologist 41: 1280-1298.text
  14. Lee, D.V., R.M. Walter, S.M. Deban and D.R. Carrier. 2001. Influence of increased rotational inertia on the turning performance of humans. Journal of Experimental Biology, 204: 3927-3934. text
  15. Deban, S.M. and D.B. Wake 2000. Aquatic Feeding in Salamanders, In: Feeding: form, function and evolution in tetrapod vertebrates. K. Schwenk, ed., Academic Press, San Diego. 65-94. (text 20 Mb)
  16. Wake, D.B. and S.M. Deban 2000. Terrestrial Feeding in Salamanders, In: Feeding: form, function and evolution in tetrapod vertebrates. K. Schwenk, ed., Academic Press, San Diego. 95-116. (text 13 Mb)
  17. Deban, S.M. and U. Dicke. 1999. Motor control of tongue movement during prey capture in plethodontid salamanders. Journal of Experimental Biology 202: 3699-3714. text
  18. Deban, S.M., D.B. Wake, and G. Roth. 1997. Salamander with a ballistic tongue. Nature 389: 27-28. text
  19. Deban, S.M. 1997. Modulation of prey-capture behavior in the plethodontid salamander Ensatina eschscholtzii. Journal of Experimental Biology 200: 1951-1964. text
  20. Garcia-Paris, M. and S.M. Deban. 1995. A novel antipredator mechanism in salamanders: rolling escape in Hydromantes platycephalus. Journal of Herpetology 29: 149-151. text
  21. Deban, S.M., J.C. O'Reilly, and T.C. Theimer. 1994. Mechanism of defensive inflation in the chuckwalla, Sauromalus obesus. Journal of Experimental Zoology 270: 451-459. text
  22. Nishikawa, K.C., C.W. Anderson, S.M. Deban, and J.C. O'Reilly. 1992. The evolution of neural circuits controlling feeding behavior in frogs. Brain, Behavior and Evolution 40: 125-140. text
  23. Deban, S.M. and K.C. Nishikawa. 1992. The kinematics of prey capture and the mechanism of tongue protraction in the green tree frog Hyla cinerea. Journal of Experimental Biology 170: 235-256. text (5.2 Mb)

Selected Published Abstracts (24 total)

  1. Deban, S.M, T. Fischbein†, E. Stakebake* and D. Carrier. (2005).  Function of the forelimb extrinsic appendicular muscles in trotting dogs. Integrative and Comparative Biology 44: 688.
  2. Deban, S.M., J.C. O’Reilly, U. Dicke and J. van Leeuwen. (2003). Extremely high-power tongue projection in plethodontid salamanders. Integrative and Comparative Biology 43: 980.
  3. O'Reilly, J.C., A. Herrel, S.M. Deban, J.J. Meyers, K.C. Nishikawa and S.L. Lindstedt. (2002). Ontogenetic scaling of speed and force in the feeding systems of ectothermic vertebrates. Faseb Journal 16: A47-A47.
  4. Deban, S.M. 2001. Novelties in the evolution of amphibian feeding. Journal of Morphology 248: 223.
  5. Deban, S.M. 1999. Motor control of feeding in plethodontid salamanders. Amer. Zoologist 38: 200A.
  6. Deban, S.M. and J.C. O'Reilly 1997. Scaling of the kinematics and motor control of prey capture in salamanders and toads. Journal of Morphology 232: 246.
  7. Deban, S.M. and J.C. O'Reilly 1996. Kinematic isometry and allometry of prey capture in the hellbender, Cryptobranchus alleganiensis. American Zoologist 36: 84A.

Selected Contributed Papers (22 total)

  1. Tongue projection in plethodontid salamanders: a high-power ballistic system. International Congress of Vertebrate Morphologists, 2004 Meeting.
  2. The radically divergent feeding mechanism of Hymenochirus tadpoles. American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, 80th Annual Meeting. June 2000.
  3. Lateral tongue aiming in Salamandrella keyserlingi (Caudata: Hynobiidae). American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, 1996 Annual Meeting.
  4. Symposium Organizer: Evolutionary patterns of amphibian development. Presentation: Evolution and development of prey capture morphology and behavior in salamanders. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, 1995 Meeting.

Symposium Presentations

  1. Convergent evolution of high power tongue projection in plethodontid salamanders. Fifth Conference of the Biology of Plethodontid Salamanders, Chiapas, Mexico, August 2007.
  2. Feeding functional morphology of extant amphibians. In: The ancestry of modern amphibians. 8th International Congress of Vertebrate Morphology, Paris, 2007. Abstract listed above.
  3. Evolution of amphibian feeding mechanics. In: Evolution of feeding mechanisms in vertebrates. Annual Meeting of Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology. 2007.Derived life history characteristics constrain the evolution of aquatic feeding behavior in adult amphibians. Symposium: Topics in Functional and Ecological Vertebrate Morphology: A Tribute to Frits de Vree. Antwerp, Belgium. 2002.
  4. Functional morphology of tongue projection in salamanders. Symposium: Biomechanics of feeding. Sixth International Congress of Vertebrate Morphology. Jena, Germany. 2001.
  5. Novelties in the evolution of amphibian feeding. Symposium: The emergence of novelties in morphological evolution. Sixth International Congress of Vertebrate Morphology. Jena, Germany. 2001.
  6. Constraint and convergence in the evolution of salamander feeding. Symposium: Biomechanics and evolution. Annual Meeting of the Society for Experimental Biology. Canterbury, United Kingdom. 2001.
  7. The evolution of the motor control of feeding in amphibians. Symposium: Motor control of vertebrate feeding: function and evolution. Annual Meeting of Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology. 2001.

Invited Seminars

  1. High power tongue projection in salamanders. Lehigh University. November, 2007

  2. Prey capture in salamanders: biomechanics and motor control of tongue projection. Institut für Spezielle Zoologie und Evolutionsbiologie mit Phyletischem Museum, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität, Jena, Germany. July, 2007.

  3. High power tongue projection in salamanders. Northern Arizona University. November, 2005.

  4. Physiology and biomechanics of movement in vertebrates: examples from humans to salamanders. Department of Biology. University of South Florida. February, 2005.

  5. Evolution and physiology of salamander feeding behavior. Department of Biology. University of Louisiana at Monroe. February, 2004.
  6. The evolution of amphibian feeding: biomechanics, development, and motor control. Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, University of Chicago. April, 2003.
  7. Evolutionary morphology of amphibian feeding systems. Department of Biology, Utah State University. February, 2003.
  8. Tongue form and function in salamanders. Department of Experiment Zoology, University of Wageningen, The Netherlands. October 2002.
  9. Biomechanics and evolution of feeding in salamanders. Department of Biology, University of Miami. September 2001.
  10. Coordination and plasticity of feeding movements in salamanders. Institute of Evolutionary and Ecological Sciences, University of Leiden, The Netherlands. December 1998.
  11. Motor control of feeding in salamanders. Hanse Institute for Advanced Study, Delmenhorst, Germany. November 1998.
  12. Development and evolution of feeding behavior and functional morphology in salamanders of the family Plethodontidae. Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley. March 1998.
  13. Evolution and development of feeding functional morphology in salamanders. Section of Ecology and Systematics, Cornell University. March 1997.

Service

Referee for journals: Anatomical Record, Animal Biology, Evolution, Functional Ecology, Journal of Morphology, Journal of Herpetology, Journal of Experimental Biology, Herpetologica, Journal of Comparative Physiology A, Journal of Experimental Zoology, Physiological and Biochemical Zoology, Royal Society Interface, Zoology, Nature

Professional Memberships

Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, International Society of Vertebrate Morphologists, Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles

Teaching

University of South Florida, Instructor for Physiology of Movement, Dept. of Biology, Spring 2008.

University of South Florida, Instructor for Comparative Approaches in Evolutionary Biology, Dept. of Biology, Spring 2007.

University of South Florida, Instructor for General Physiology, Dept. of Biology, Spring 2006, Fall 2006, 2007.

U.C. Berkeley, Graduate Student Instructor for Evolution, Dept. of Integrative Biology, 1996, '95, '94

U.C. Berkeley, Course Associate for Natural History of the Vertebrates, 1996

U.C. Berkeley, Graduate Student Instructor for Herpetology, 1994

U.C. Berkeley, Graduate Student Instructor for Natural History of the Vertebrates, 1993

U.C. Berkeley, Graduate Student Instructor for Introductory Biology, 1992

Museum Curation

U.C. Berkeley, Museum Scientist, Computer support, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, 1996,97

U.C. Berkeley, Museum Scientist, Herpetology, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, 1992, '93, '94

Updated 12/5/2007

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