About

Daniel Blumstein is a professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at UCLA. His research broadly focuses on the evolution of social and antipredator behavior and the mechanisms through which behavior influences higher-level ecological processes and wildlife conservation. He has spent over a decade studying the evolution of complex communication and sociality, using the 14 species of marmots as a model system, with a particular focus on the yellow-bellied marmots of the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, which have been studied continuously since 1962. A main theme in his research is integrating knowledge of animal behavior into conservation biology, aiming to demonstrate how behavioral insights should influence policy. In addition to theoretical work, he actively engages in using ecotourism as a means of community development and resource conservation, emphasizing the importance of wildlife perception of human impacts. His work also explores the biological toll of ecotourism and how animal behavior can inform conservation strategies.

Research topics

• Biology
• Evolutionary biology
• Genetics
• Ecology
• Political Science
• Environmental planning
• Environmental ethics
• Public relations
• Law
• Geography
• Business
• Zoology
• Bioinformatics
• Medicine
• Demography

Selected publications

• Universal DNA methylation age across mammalian tissues

  Nature Aging · 2023 · 372 citations

  • Biology
  • Genetics
  • Evolutionary biology

  Aging, often considered a result of random cellular damage, can be accurately estimated using DNA methylation profiles, the foundation of pan-tissue epigenetic clocks. Here, we demonstrate the development of universal pan-mammalian clocks, using 11,754 methylation arrays from our Mammalian Methylation Consortium, which encompass 59 tissue types across 185 mammalian species. These predictive models estimate mammalian tissue age with high accuracy (r > 0.96). Age deviations correlate with human mortality risk, mouse somatotropic axis mutations and caloric restriction. We identified specific cytosines with methylation levels that change with age across numerous species. These sites, highly enriched in polycomb repressive complex 2-binding locations, are near genes implicated in mammalian development, cancer, obesity and longevity. Our findings offer new evidence suggesting that aging is evolutionarily conserved and intertwined with developmental processes across all mammals.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The future of evolutionary medicine: sparking innovation in biomedicine and public health

  Frontiers in Science · 2023 · 54 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Medicine
  • Biology
  • Ecology

  innovations in chemistry, antimicrobial usage, and phage therapy). With respect to public health, the insight that many modern human pathologies (e.g., obesity) result from mismatches between the ecologies in which we evolved and our modern environments has important implications for disease prevention. Life-history evolution can also shed important light on patterns of disease burden, for example in reproductive health. Experience during the COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has underlined the critical role of evolutionary dynamics (e.g., with respect to virulence and transmissibility) in predicting and managing this and future pandemics, and in using evolutionary principles to understand and address aspects of human behavior that impede biomedical innovation and public health (e.g., unhealthy behaviors and vaccine hesitancy). In conclusion, greater interdisciplinary collaboration is vital to systematically leverage the insight-generating power of evolutionary medicine to better understand, prevent, and treat existing and emerging threats to human, animal, and planetary health.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• DNA methylation networks underlying mammalian traits

  Science · 2023 · 129 citations

  • Biology
  • Genetics
  • Evolutionary biology

  subclass homeobox genes and developmental processes and is potentially regulated by pluripotency transcription factors. The methylation state of some modules responds to perturbations such as caloric restriction, ablation of growth hormone receptors, consumption of high-fat diets, and expression of Yamanaka factors. This study reveals an intertwined evolution of the genome and epigenome that mediates the biological characteristics and traits of different mammalian species.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Individual variation in tolerance of human activity by urban Dark-eyed Juncos ( <i>Junco hyemalis</i> )

  The Wilson Journal of Ornithology · 2022 · 7 citations

  • Ecology
  • Biology
  • Geography

  An important goal of urban ecology is determining what differentiates urban-tolerant populations of birds from their non-urban ancestors and urban-intolerant species. One key to urban success may be reacting appropriately to human activity, and the degree to which birds view humans as threats can be quantified by their escape behavior. Understanding individual-level plasticity, however, requires the tracking of known individuals. We compared flight-initiation distances (FID) and distances fled (DF) from approaches by a human between an urban and a non-urban population of individually marked Dark-eyed Juncos (Junco hyemalis) in Southern California. The urban population is more tolerant to people as evidenced by attenuated FIDs and DFs relative to non-urban birds. Although individual urban birds either habituated or sensitized to repeated approaches, there was no significant pattern at the population level. Overall, the behavioral patterns exhibited by this urban population of juncos is more supportive of in situ evolution of tolerance than either being a biased sample from an ancestral non-urban population or intrinsic behavioral plasticity that produces a uniform adjustment to urban life.

  PublisherDOI

• Universal DNA methylation age across mammalian tissues

  bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · 2021 · 149 citations

  • Biology
  • Genetics
  • Evolutionary biology

  ABSTRACT Aging is often perceived as a degenerative process resulting from random accrual of cellular damage over time. Despite this, age can be accurately estimated by epigenetic clocks based on DNA methylation profiles from almost any tissue of the body. Since such pan-tissue epigenetic clocks have been successfully developed for several different species, we hypothesized that one can build pan-mammalian clocks that measure age in all mammalian species. To address this, we generated data using 11,754 methylation arrays, each profiling up to 36 thousand cytosines in highly-conserved stretches of DNA, from 59 tissue-types derived from 185 mammalian species. From these methylation profiles, we constructed three age predictors, each with a single mathematical formula, termed universal pan-mammalian clocks that are accurate in estimating the age (r&gt;0.96) of any mammalian tissue. Deviations between epigenetic age and chronological age relate to mortality risk in humans, mutations that affect the somatotropic axis in mice, and caloric restriction. We characterized specific cytosines, whose methylation levels change with age across most mammalian species. These cytosines are greatly enriched in polycomb repressive complex 2-binding sites, are located in regions that gradually lose chromatin accessibility with age and are proximal to genes that play a role in mammalian development, cancer, human obesity, and human longevity. Collectively, these results support the notion that aging is indeed evolutionarily conserved and coupled to developmental processes across all mammalian species - a notion that was long-debated without the benefit of this new compelling evidence. SUMMARY This study identifies and characterizes evolutionarily conserved cytosines implicated in the aging process across mammals and establishes pan mammalian epigenetic clocks.

  DOI

• Underestimating the Challenges of Avoiding a Ghastly Future

  Frontiers in Conservation Science · 2021 · 528 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Political Science
  • Environmental ethics
  • Public relations

  We report three major and confronting environmental issues that have received little attention and require urgent action. First, we review the evidence that future environmental conditions will be far more dangerous than currently believed. The scale of the threats to the biosphere and all its lifeforms—including humanity—is in fact so great that it is difficult to grasp for even well-informed experts. Second, we ask what political or economic system, or leadership, is prepared to handle the predicted disasters, or even capable of such action. Third, this dire situation places an extraordinary responsibility on scientists to speak out candidly and accurately when engaging with government, business, and the public. We especially draw attention to the lack of appreciation of the enormous challenges to creating a sustainable future. The added stresses to human health, wealth, and well-being will perversely diminish our political capacity to mitigate the erosion of ecosystem services on which society depends. The science underlying these issues is strong, but awareness is weak. Without fully appreciating and broadcasting the scale of the problems and the enormity of the solutions required, society will fail to achieve even modest sustainability goals.

  DOI

Recent grants

• LTREB: Evolutionary Dynamics in a Rapidly Changing Environment

  NSF · $502k · 2011–2016

• Collaborative Research: IDBR: VoxNet--A Deployable Bioacoustic Sensor Network

  NSF · $452k · 2008–2012

• DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Character displacement in the morphology and song of two closely-related African barbets

  NSF · $9k · 2008–2009

• LTREB Renewal: Evolutionary Dynamics in a Rapidly Changing Environment

  NSF · $532k · 2016–2022

• US - South America Workshop: Intraspecific variation and social systems: Explaining variation based on neuroendocrine and genetic mechanisms; Santiago, Chile, August, 2009.

  NSF · $30k · 2009–2011

Frequent coauthors

• Julien G. A. Martin

  94 shared

• Janice C. Daniel

  University of California, Los Angeles

  45 shared

• Kenneth B. Armitage

  Health and Education Research Management and Epidemiologic Services (United States)

  37 shared

• Anders Pape Møller

  Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

  37 shared

• Raquel Monclús

  Laboratoire d’Ethologie Expérimentale et Comparée

  37 shared

• Benjamin Geffroy

  Marine Biodiversity Exploitation and Conservation

  31 shared

• Dana M. Williams

  Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory

  30 shared

• Matthew B. Petelle

  Zoological Society of San Diego

  29 shared

Labs

• Blumstein LabPI

Education

• Ph.D., Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

  University of California, Los Angeles

  1996

• M.S., Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

  University of California, Los Angeles

  1992

• B.S., Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

  University of California, Los Angeles

  1990

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