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Professor, Emeritus

• Affiliation(s)

  • Museum of Paleontology
  • Museum of Zoology
  • Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
  • Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

• Fields of Study

  • Evolution of North American Freshwater Fishes

• About

  Research Interests
  Freshwater fishes outnumber all non-fish vertebrate groups though they occupy less than 1% of Earths waters. The nature of species restriction to river and lake drainages has contributed to their reproductive isolation and species origins. Cenozoic fish paleontology reveals ecological causes of morphological change through time, past drainage isolation and connections, causes of extinction, and a surprising amount of hybridization that reunites lineages and changes the rates of evolution.

  Academic Background
  Dr. Smith received his B.S. from the University of Utah in 1957, his M.S. from the University of Utah in 1959, and his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 1965 in Zoology. He was Assistant Professor at University of Utah from 1963-66; Assistant Professor at University of Kansas from 1966-69; Assistant Professor at University of Michigan from 1969-1975.

• Education

  • B.S. University of Utah, 1957
  • M.S. University of Utah, 1959
  • Ph.D., Zoology, University of Michigan, 1965

• Selected Publications:

• Books

  • (2000) 32. Fishes of the Mio-Pliocene Ringold Formation, Washington: Pliocene Capture of the Snake River by the Columbia River