John Janovy

Emeritus Professor Profile Image
Emeritus Professor Biological Sciences jjanovy1@unl.edu 402-472-2754 Manter Hall 405

Research Interests

Research in our laboratory addresses problems of parasite ecology, with a focus on processes that determine the distribution and numbers of symbiotic organisms among host species. We have used a number of different systems, but most often these have involved the helminth communities of frogs and small fish, insects and their gregarine parasites, and more recently, nematomorphs. My students typically do problems that integrate host specificity, development, and transmission. Much of our work is done using the Cedar Point Biological Station as a base of operation.

Current projects include the following: movement of parasites through ecosystems and determinants of population and community structure, with a focus on the parasites of amphibians and reptiles (Matthew Bolek and Gabriel Langford), determinants of community and population structure in Monogenoidea of minnows in flowing waters (Alaine Knipes), and a variety of taxonomic and developmental studies on the gregarine parasites of insects, expecially beetles. There are also a number of undergraduates who do research in our lab; most of their projects concern the biology of gregarine parasites. Honors thesis projects from recent years include the dynamics of carbohydrate accumulation in different gregarine cell compartments, host specificity of actinocephalid gregarines in odonates, and distribution of Monogenea on the gills of centrarchid fishes.

Recent Publications

Recent Papers and Book Chapters:

  • Janovy, J. Jr. 2002. Defining the field: Concurrent infections and the community ecology of helminth parasites. J. Parasitol., 88:440-445. (invited review).
  • Janovy, J. Jr. 2003. Acceptance of the Clark P. Read Mentor Award: The Teague Self Lessons. J. Parasitol. 89:1109-1111.
  • Janovy, J. Jr., M. G. Bolek, J. Detwiler, S. Schwank, A. Knipes, and G. Langford. 2007. Gregarina niphandrodes (Eugregarinorida: Septatorina): Oocyst surface architecture. J. Parasitol. 93:714-716.
  • Janovy, J. Jr., J. Detwiler, S. Schwank, M. G. Bolek, A. K. Knipes, and G. J. Langford. 2007. New and emended descriptions of gregarines from flour beetles (Tribolium spp. and Palorus subdepressus: Coleoptera, Tenebrionidae). J. Parasitol. 93:1155-1170.
  • Knipes, A. K., and J. Janovy, Jr. 2009. Community structure and seasonal dynamics of Dactylogyrus spp. (Monogenea) on the fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas) from the Salt Valley Watershed, Lancaster County, Nebraska. J. Parasitol., 95:1295-1305.
  • Langford, G. J., and J. Janovy, Jr. 2009. Comparative life cycles and life histories of North American Rhabdias spp. (Nematoda: Rhabdiasidae): lungworms from snakes and anurans. J. Parasitol., 95:1145-1155.
  • Bolek, M. G., and J. Janovy, Jr. 2007. Small frogs get their worms first: the role of non-odonate arthropods in the recruitment of Haematoloechus coloradensis and Haematoloechus complexus in newly metamorphosed northern leopard frogs, Rana pipiens, and Woodhouse’s toads, Bufo woodhousii. J. Parasitol., 93:300-312.
  • Bolek, M. G., and J. Janovy, Jr. 2007a. Evolutionary avenues for, and constraints on, the transmission of frog lung flukes (Haematoloechus spp.) in dragonfly second intermediate hosts. J. Parasitol., 93:593-607.
  • Bolek, M. G., S. D. Snyder, and J. Janovy Jr. 2009. Alternative life-cycle strategies and colonization of young anurans by Gorgoderina attenuata in Nebraska. J. Parasitol.  95:604-616.
  • Detwiler, J., and J. Janovy, Jr. 2008. The role of phylogeny and ecology in experimental host specificity: insights from a eugregarine-host system. J. Parasitol., 94:7-12.
  • Hanelt, B., and J. Janovy, Jr. 2003. Spanning the gap: experimental determination of paratenic host specificity of horsehair worms (Nematomorpha: Gordiida). Invert. Biol., 122:12-18.
  • Hanelt, B., and J. Janovy, Jr. 2004. Untying a Gordian knot: the domestication and laboratory maintenance of a Gordian worm, Paragordius varius (Nematomorpha: Gordiida). J. Nat. Hist., 38:939-950.
  • Hanelt, B., L. E. Grother, and J. Janovy, Jr. 2001. Physid snails as sentinels of freshwater nematomorphs. J. Parasitol., 87:1049-1053.
  • Schreurs, J. S., and J. Janovy, Jr. 2008. Gregarines on a diet: the effects of host starvation on Gregarina confusa Janovy et al., 2007 (Apicomplexa: Eugregarinida) in Tribolium destructor Uyttenboogaart, 1933 (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) larvae. J. Parasitol. 94:567-570.

Books:

  • Janovy, J. Jr. 2009. Pieces of the Plains: Memories and Predictions from the Heart of America. J&L Lee, Lincoln, NE. 187p.
  • Janovy, J. Jr. 2008. Outwitting College Professors, 2nd Ed. Pearson Custom Publishing, Boston, MA. 149p.
  • Janovy, J. Jr. 2004. On Becoming a Biologist, 2nd Ed. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, NE. 153p.
  • Janovy, J. Jr. 2003. Teaching in Eden: the Cedar Point lessons. Routledge Falmer, New York, NY. 187p.
  • Janovy, J. Jr. 1997. Ten Minute Ecologist: Twenty answered questions for busy people facing environmental issues. St. Martin’s Press, N.Y. 127p.
  • Janovy, J. Jr. 1994. Dunwoody Pond: Reflections on the high plains wetlands and the cultivation of naturalists. St. Martin's Press, NY; 288p. (Trade paperback, University of Nebraska Press, 2001)
  • Janovy, J. Jr. 1992. Vermilion Sea: A naturalist's journey in Baja California. Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 226p.
  • Janovy, J. Jr. 1987. Fields of Friendly Strife. Viking/Penguin, New York.130p. (trade paperback, Penguin, 1988)
  • Janovy, J. Jr. 1985. On Becoming A Biologist. Harper and Row, New York, 160p. (trade paperback, Harper and Row, 1986; trade paperback, University of Nebraska Press, 1996)
  • Janovy, J. Jr. 1981. Back in Keith County. St. Martin's Press, New York, 179p. (trade paperback Univ Nebr Press, Bison Books, 1984).
  • Janovy, J. Jr. 1980 Yellowlegs. St. Martin's Press, New York, 192p (trade paperback, Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1982).
  • Janovy, J. Jr. 1978. Keith County Journal, St. Martin's Press, New York, 210p (trade paperback, St. Martin's Press, 1979, trade paperback University of Nebraska Press, 1996).
  • Janovy, J. Jr. and Amanda Snyder. 2001. Biodiversity: A primer. 3rd Ed. McGraw-Hill Custom Publishing, Dubuque, Iowa. 226p.
  • Blake, J. 1996. Comes the Millennium: Hysteria, religious mania, and anti-intellectualism as the millennium approaches. St. Martin’s Press, New York, 183p. (J. Blake is a pseudonym for JJJr.)
  • Roberts, L. S., and J. Janovy, Jr. 1996. Foundations of Parasitology. 5th edition, Wm C. Brown, Co., Dubuque, Iowa, 659p.
  • Roberts, L. S., and J. Janovy, Jr. 2000. Foundations of Parasitology. 6th edition. McGraw-Hill, Dubuque, Iowa. 670p.
  • Roberts, L. S., and J. Janovy, Jr. 2005. Foundations of Parasitology. 7th edition. McGraw-Hill, Dubuque, Iowa. 702p.
  • Roberts, L. S., and J. Janovy, Jr. 2009. Foundations of Parasitology, 8th Ed. McGraw-Hill, Dubuque, IA. 701p.

Films (screenplays):

  • Janovy, J. Jr. 1985. Keith County Journal. Nebr ETV, 16mm and video, 58min. (1986 Corp. Publ. Broadcasting, 1st place in local information programming category. 1987 Central Educational Network, 1st place in local programming category. 1986 29th Annual New York Film and TV Festival finalist.)

Invited Essays:

  • Janovy, J. Jr. 2008. The Greenhouse. In: A Desert Illuminated: Cactus Flowers of the Sonoran Desert; photographs by John P. Schaefer. Arizona Desert Museum Press; Tucson, Arizona. pp. 90-93.
  • Janovy, J. Jr. 2008. Chapters from two book manuscripts: Bernice and John: Finally meeting your parents who died a long time ago and The Ginkgo. Isotope: A Journal of Literary Nature and Science Writing, Issue 6.2:8-13.

Laboratory Manuals:

  • Janovy, J. Jr. 1983-91 Zoology Lab, Biol Sci 112, Editions 1-3, Kinko's, Lincoln, NE 150p.
  • Janovy, J. Jr. 1991, 1993 Zoology lab: a laboratory manual for Biological Sciences 112. Burgess International Group, Edina, MN, 165p.
  • Janovy, J. Jr. 1981-2008 Field Parasitology, Biol Sci 487/488, Editions 1-14, Kinko's, Lincoln, NE 94p., annual editions since, University Bookstore.
  • Janovy, J. Jr. 1985-90 Invertebrate Zoology, Biol Sci 381, Editions 1-3, Kinko's, 88p.
  • Janovy, J. Jr. 1996. Biodiversity. University of Nebraska bookstore. (annual editions through 2005).

Software:

  • Clopton, R. E. and J. Janovy, Jr. 1991. FieldStat 1.0 and MacFieldStat 1.0, Hotel Intestine Software, Lincoln, NE (Menu driven statistical package for parasitology teaching and research). Upgrades and application additions, FieldStat 2.0, 2000
Specialization:
  • Parasitology
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