Biology 150
Biology 191
Biology 240
Biology 250
Biology 280
Biology 305
Biology 380
Biology 492
Biology 450

My research is focused on the neural basis of a unique rhythmical digging behavior associated with egg-laying in female grasshoppers and locusts. Over the last several years we have shown that many of the egg-laying neurons of females have their counterparts in males, and furthermore that each of the eleven abdominal segment of females and males appears to contain an copy of the same neural circuitry that drives egg-laying (in the terminal four segments of females). We have also established the independence of this circuitry from the circuitry that drives ventilation (respiratory movements). Ventilation is the only recognized behavior that involves the whole abdomen in males and females. The hypothesis that is guiding our current work is that egg-laying evolved from another more common behavior that was originally expressed throughout the abdomen. Our work utilizes intracellular neuronal recordings and EMGs, lesion studies, and anatomical methodologies. The significance of the work is in the insight it will provide into how neural circuit evolution supports new animal behaviors.

PEER-REVIEWED

Thompson, K.J., S.P. Sivanesan, HR Campbell, KA Sanders (1999) Efferent neurons and specialization of abdominal segments in grasshoppers. J. Comp. Neurol. 415:65-79.

Thompson, K.J. and J.L. Roosevelt (1998) Comparison of neural elements in sexually dimorphic segments of the grasshopper, Schistocerca americana.  J. Comp. Neurol. 394:14-28

Campbell, H.R., K.J. Thompson, and Siegler, M.V.S. (1995) Neurons of the median neuroblast lineage of the grasshopper:  A population study of the efferent DUM neurons. J. Comp. Neurol. 309:207-219.

Thompson, K.J. and Siegler, M.V.S. (1993) Development of segment specificity in the lineages of homologous neuroblasts in the grasshopper. J. Neurosci. 13:3309-3318 .

Thompson, K.J. and Calabrese, R.L. (1992) FMRFamide effects on membrane properties of heart cells isolated from the leech, Hirudo medicinalis. J. Neurophysiol. 67:280-291.

Siegler, M.V.S., Manley, P.E., Jr., and Thompson, K.J. (1991) Sulphide silver staining for endogenous heavy metals reveals subsets of dorsal unpaired median (DUM) neurones in insects. J. Exp. Biol. 157:565-571.

Thompson, K.J. and Siegler, M.V.S. (1991) Anatomy and physiology of spiking local and intersegmental interneurons in the median neuroblast lineage of the grasshopper. J. Comp. Neurol. 305:659-675.

Thompson, K.J. (1988) Control of respiratory motor pattern by sensory neurons in spinal cord of lamprey. J. Comp. Physiol. A. 166:675-684.

Thompson, K.J. (1986) Oviposition digging in the grasshopper I: Functional anatomy and the motor programme. J. Exp. Biol. 122, 387-411.

Thompson, K.J. (1986) Oviposition digging in the grasshopper II: Descending neural control. J. Exp. Biol. 122, 413-425.

Thompson, K.J. (1985) Organization of inputs to motoneurons during fictive respiration in the isolated lamprey brain. J. Comp. Physiol. A. 157, 291-302.

CONFERENCE PAPERS AND PUBLISHED ABSTRACTS

Thompson, K.J. (2005) Precise alignment of elicited motor patterns generated in grasshopper abdomens. Soc. Neurosci. 31. (abstract)

Thompson, K.J. and D.R. Stokes (2002) Rhythmic motor patterns in isolated abdomens do not correspond to breathing behavior. Soc. Neurosci. 28. (abstract)

Thompson, K.J.and D.R. Stokes (2001) Pre-genital abdominal motor patterns in grasshoppers. Proc. Int. Soc. Neuroethol. 6:313. (abstract)

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

“Maintaining your research mojo: Two scientists reflect on post-tenure research productivity at a small liberal arts college”, Lilia C. Harvey and Karen J. Thompson, The Chronicle of Higher Education, March 23, 2009.