Jon Harrison
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Phone: 480-965-9459
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ISTB1 324 School of Life Sciences Mail code 4501 TEMPE, AZ 85287-4501
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Mail code: 4501Campus: Tempe
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Jon Harrison is an environmental physiologist who studies how insects function, interact with their environment, and evolve. His research includes studies of how environmental and genetic factors affect growth and development, the factors that determine body size, how body and colony size affects metabolic rates and organismal function, the role of pesticides in pollinator decline, and how ecological factors such as temperature and plant nutritional content influence animal function.
He and his collaborators study how genes and the environment interact to alter animal morphology, metabolism, growth and physiological systems. To do this, they utilize a range of approaches, including evolutionary/comparative studies in field and lab, plasticity studies in the lab, and genetic and pharmacological manipulations.
Major research questions in the lab have included: "Why do locusts outbreak?"; "How will heat waves impact insect pollinators?" ;"Why do larger animals have lower mass-specific metabolic rates?"; "Why are insects small relative to vertebrates?"; "How do flying insects thermoregulate?"; "How do insects breathe?"; "How do insects regulate their pH?", "How do mitotoxic fungicides impair bee health?", "How does oxygen regulate insect size?" and "How will climate change affect mosquitos in Arizona"?
His research has been applied to understanding climate change effects on animals, predicting locust outbreaks, and development of miniaturized artificial intelligence systems.
Ph.D. University of Colorado, Boulder 1987
Why are pollinators declining?
How can we use pesticides safely?
Why do larger animals use less energy per gram?
Why are insects small?
How do insects cope with varied temperatures?
- 197 reviewed publications total. Recent activity:
- Harrison, J.F. and H.A. Woods. 2026. Ballooning underwater. Science 393 (6809):356-7.
- Lynch, C.M., C. Guo, T.P. Pavlic, I. Bespalova, J.F. Harrison and J.H. Fewell. In press. Generalists circulate and specialists persist: the continuum of division of labor in harvester ant colonies. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.
- Perl, C.D., Z.N. Coto, R.A. Johnson, M.G. Johnson, L.C. Graber, J. Haas, J.F.A. Traniello, J.S. Waters, and J.F. Harrison. In press. Evolution of neurometabolic frugality: lower mass-specific brain and body metabolic rate in derived harvester ant species is associated with worker size. Proceedings of the Royal Society Series B.
- Harrison, J.F., J. Chen, J.R. Glass, C. Ozturk, B.H. Smith, J.H. Fewell, G. Degrandi-Hoffman, Y. Kang, B. Sorensen, D. Rothweil, N.S. Desjardins, and A. Fisher II. 2026. Limits and mechanisms of honey bee colonial thermoregulation in the heat. Journal of Experimental Biology 229(14):jeb252357. 10.1242/jeb.252357
- Prendergast, C.T., J.F. Harrison and K.M. Baudier. 2026. Variation in reflective flow and forager navigation explain speed of obstruction circumnavigation on Atta colombica foraging trails. Neotropical Naturalist 6(2):1-9.
- Coto, Z., D. Ye, S. Arganda, J.F. Harrison and J.F.A. Traniello. 2026. Neurometabolic scaling and “selfishness” in a social insect brain. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA. 123(32): e2605431123. doi:10.1073/pnas.2605431123
- Snelling, E.P., A.V. Lensink, S. Clusella-Trullas, C. Weldon, P. Lehmann, J. Terblanche, N. L. Payne, Jon F. Harrison, A. J. R. Hickey, A. Donaldson, C. M. Deschodt, R. S. Seymour. 2026. Evidence against the hypothesis that oxygen constrains the evolution of insect gigantism. Nature 653:439-443. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-026-10291-3.
- Tahir, S.M., T. Lichaa, S. Jaronski, R. Shniderman, J.F. Harrison and A.J. Cease. 2026. Protein-biased food enhances immune responses, but nevertheless increases susceptibility to Metarhyzium biopesticide in desert locusts. Journal of Experimental Biology 229(3):jeb205955. DOI: 10.1242/jeb.250955.
- Chen, J., A. Fisher , G. DeGrandi-Hoffman, C. Ozturk, B.H. Smith, J.H. Fewell, Y. Kang, K. Maxwell, K. Overcash, K. Chahal and J.F. Harrison. 2026. Negative effects of excessive heat on colony thermoregulation and population dynamics in honey bees. Ecological and Evolutionary Physiology 99(1)1-18. https://doi.org/10.1086/739493.
- Cease, A., J., S. Talal, G. Osgood, P. Pulver, S. Millewise, R.P. Overson and J.F. Harrison. 2026. Energetic constraints on multi-day flights in migratory locusts. Journal of Experimental Biology 226(7): jeb251191. DOI: 10.1242/jeb.251191.
- Glass, J.R., M.G. Johnson and J.F. Harrison. 2025. When does temperature limit bee flight? Identifying the missing pieces of the puzzle. Journal of Experimental Biology 228(24):jeb250891. DOI: 10.1242/jeb.250891.
- Lynch, C.M., Bespalova, I., Pavlic, T., Pratt, S., Harrison, J.F. and J.H. Fewell. 2025. Piecewise continuous sampling: a method for minimizing bias and sampling effort for estimated metrics of animal behavior. 2025. Ethology 131(12):290-302. https://doi.org/10.1111/eth.70021
- Chen, J., A. Fisher II, J.F. Harrison, G. DeGrandi-Hoffman, J.H. Fewell and Y. Kang. 2025. Modeling pesticide impacts on honey bee dynamics from mathematical and experimental integration. 2025. Journal of Theoretical Biology 611: 112167. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtbi.2025.112167.
- Fisher, A.L. II, Keerut Chahal; Gloria DeGrandi-Hoffman; Brian H. Smith; Jennifer H. Fewell; Jon F. Harrison. 2025. Exposure to a widely used mito-toxic fungicide negatively affects hemolymph protein and vitellogenin levels in honey bees (Apis mellifera). Environmental Pharmacology and Toxicology 115:104676. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.etap.2025.104676
- Millerwise, S. Talal, T. Pulver, E. Goethe, G. Osgood, E. Cossey, R. Overson, J. Harrison and A. Cease. 2025. High-protein diets shorten female but not male life spans and have minimal effects on egg production in Migratory locusts. Ecological and Evolutionary Physiology 98(2):83-95. doi: 10.1086/735836
- Guo, X., J.F. Harrison, C. Lynch and J.F. Fewell. 2025. Ontogeny of metabolic rate in harvester ant colonies and the dual antagonistic effects of brood content on colony metabolism. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 292(2039): 20242534.10.1098/rspb.2024.2534
- Clark, R.M., T.P. Fox, C.J. Klok, J.H. Fewell and J.F. Harrison. 2025. Cooperation by ant queens brings direct energetic benefits during colony founding. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 79(1). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-024-03551-7
- Johnson, M.G., M. Barrett and J.F. Harrison. 2025. Solar radiation alters heat balance and thermoregulation in a flying desert bee. Journal of Experimental Biology 228(1):jeb247335. https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.247335
- Campbell, J.B., K.J. Greenlee, A.W. Shingleton, A.E. Gray, H.C. Smith, V. Callier, T. Lundquist and J.F. Harrison. 2024. HIF signaling in the prothoracic gland regulates growth and development in hypoxia but not normoxia in Drosophila. Journal of Experimental Biology 227(18): jeb247697. https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.247697. Short-listed for Best JEB paper of the year.
- Neal, M.H., J.F. Harrison, B.B. Skabalund and R.J. Milcarek. 2024. Insect tracheal systems as inspiration for CO2 capture systems. Bioinspiration and Biomimetics 19(5):6015 doi:10.1088/1748-3190/ad665c.
- Singh, R., S. Suresh, J.H. Fewell, J.F. Harrison and T. Linksvayer. 2024. Wolbachia infected pharaoh ant colonies have higher egg production, metabolic rate, and worker survival. Journal of Experimental Biology 227 (16): jeb247168. https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.247168
- Treidel, L.A., K.D. Deem, M.K. Salcedo, M.H. Dickinson, H.S. Bruce, C.A. Darveau, B.H. Dickerson, O. Ellers, J.R. Glass, C.M. Gordon, J.F. Harrison, T.L. Hedrick, M.G. Johnson, J.E. Lebenzon, K. Niitepold, S.P. Sane, S. Sponberg, S. Talal, C.M. Williams, and E.S. Wold. 2024. Insect flight: state of the field and future directions. Integrative and Comparative Biology. 10.1093/icb/icae106
- Fox, T.P., Y.P. Raka, K. Smith and J.F. Harrison. 2024. Climate change may release Aedes aegypti (Diptera:Culicidae) larvae from cold-inhibition and enable year-round development in a desert city. Ecological and Evolutionary Physiology. doi: 10.1086/731710
- Talal, S., A. Chahal, G.M. Osgood, J. Brosemann, J.F. Harrison and A.J. Cease. 2024. Target for lipid to carbohydrate intake minimizes cost of growth. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 291: 20240424. doi:10.1098/rspb.2024.0424.
- Glass, J.R. and J.F. Harrison. 2024. A thermal performance curve perspective explains decades of disagreements over how air temperature affects the flight metabolism of honey bees. Journal of Experimental Biology 227(7): jeb246926. DOI:10.1242/jeb.246926.
- Desjardins, N.S., E. K. Chester, C. Ozturk, C.M. Lynch, J.F. Harrison and B.H. Smith. 2024. Synergistic negative effects between fungicides and high temperatures on navigation behavior in bees. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 291:20240040;https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2024.0040.
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Glass, J.R., N.P. Burnett, S.A. Combes, E. Weisman, A. Helbing and J.F. Harrison. 2024. Flying nectar-loaded honey bees conserve water and improve heat tolerance by reducing wingbeat frequency and metabolic heat production. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA. 121(4): e2311025121. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2311025121
- >$15M total. Recent activity:
- 2026-2029 National Science Foundation DMS 2602341. New mathematics for pollinator decline: from colony dynamics to sustainable agrosystems. $468,704. (Yun Kang, PI, Co-I: Jon Harrison, Sunmi Lee, Gloria DeGrandi-Hoffman)
- 2022-2023 USDA NIFA Conference grant: synthesis and networking to improve pollinator health at IUSSI 2022. $49,997 (Karen Kapheim PI, Co-I’s Harrison, Evans, Giray, Li-Byarla
- 2021-2022 National Science Foundation SICB Conference/Workshop on Causal Mechanisms of Metabolic Scaling. $13,703 NSF IOS 2141592
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2022-2025 USDA (NIFA) 2022-67013-36285 Climatic warming and fungicide effects on honey bees. Co-PIs: Brian Smith, Jennifer Fewell and Yun Kang. $681,708.
2020-2023 National Science Foundation Collaborative research: Brain size, metabolism and sociality in ants. IOS-1953419. $597,872.
2019-2020 Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Energy-efficient neuromorphic computing in light of the structural and functional evolution of multiscale insect brains. PI: Brian Smith, Co-PI’s: Ted Pavlic, Kevin Cao, Maxim Bazhenov. Phase I and II: $1,000,000.
2018-2020 National Science Foundation. Testing macronutrient imbalance as a key factor limiting range expansion in herbivores. Co-PI: Arianne Cease. IOS-1826848. $120,000
2017-2022 USDA. Evaluation of the dose-response of honey bees to carboximide and strobilurine fungicides: from cellular mechanism to integrated management. USDA 2017-68004-26322. Co-PI’s: Jennifer Fewell, Brian Smith, Osman Kaftangolu, Gloria DeGrandi-Hoffman. $932,284.
2016-21 National Science Foundation. Social scaling: allometry of work and metabolism in ant colonies. Co-I’s: Jennifer H. Fewell and Y. Kang. NSF IOS 1558127. $500,000
2016-21 National Science Foundation. The mechanical linkage of respiration, circulation and digestion in beetles. Co-I’s: John Jake Socha and Laura Miller. NSF IOS 1558052. Total budget: $910,00, ASU budget $287,146.
Courses
2026 Fall
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| BIO 492 | Honors Directed Study |
| BIO 493 | Honors Thesis |
| BIO 499 | Individualized Instruction |
| MIC 495 | Undergraduate Research |
| BIO 495 | Undergraduate Research |
| BIO 360 | Animal Physiology |
| BIO 495 | Undergraduate Research |
2026 Summer
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| BIO 495 | Undergraduate Research |
| BIO 495 | Undergraduate Research |
2026 Spring
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| BIO 493 | Honors Thesis |
| BIO 492 | Honors Directed Study |
| MIC 495 | Undergraduate Research |
| BIO 495 | Undergraduate Research |
| BIO 499 | Individualized Instruction |
2025 Fall
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| BIO 492 | Honors Directed Study |
| BIO 493 | Honors Thesis |
| BIO 499 | Individualized Instruction |
| MIC 495 | Undergraduate Research |
| BIO 495 | Undergraduate Research |
| BIO 495 | Undergraduate Research |
2025 Summer
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| BIO 495 | Undergraduate Research |
| BIO 495 | Undergraduate Research |
| BIO 495 | Undergraduate Research |
2025 Spring
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| BIO 493 | Honors Thesis |
| BIO 492 | Honors Directed Study |
| MIC 495 | Undergraduate Research |
| BIO 495 | Undergraduate Research |
| BIO 499 | Individualized Instruction |
2024 Fall
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| BIO 310 | Special Problems & Techniques |
| BIO 492 | Honors Directed Study |
| BIO 493 | Honors Thesis |
| BIO 499 | Individualized Instruction |
| MIC 495 | Undergraduate Research |
| BIO 494 | Special Topics |
| BIO 495 | Undergraduate Research |
| BIO 360 | Animal Physiology |
| BIO 495 | Undergraduate Research |
| BIO 495 | Undergraduate Research |
2024 Summer
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| BIO 495 | Undergraduate Research |
| BIO 495 | Undergraduate Research |
| BIO 495 | Undergraduate Research |
2024 Spring
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| BIO 493 | Honors Thesis |
| MIC 495 | Undergraduate Research |
| BIO 495 | Undergraduate Research |
| BIO 499 | Individualized Instruction |
2023 Fall
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| BIO 310 | Special Problems & Techniques |
| BIO 492 | Honors Directed Study |
| BIO 493 | Honors Thesis |
| BIO 499 | Individualized Instruction |
| MIC 495 | Undergraduate Research |
| BIO 494 | Special Topics |
| BIO 495 | Undergraduate Research |
| BIO 360 | Animal Physiology |
| BIO 361 | Animal Physiology Laboratory |
| BIO 495 | Undergraduate Research |
| BIO 495 | Undergraduate Research |
2023 Summer
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| BIO 495 | Undergraduate Research |
| BIO 495 | Undergraduate Research |
| BIO 495 | Undergraduate Research |
2023 Spring
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| BIO 310 | Special Problems & Techniques |
| BIO 492 | Honors Directed Study |
| BIO 493 | Honors Thesis |
| MIC 495 | Undergraduate Research |
| BIO 495 | Undergraduate Research |
| BIO 499 | Individualized Instruction |
| BIO 591 | Seminar |
| BIO 498 | Pro-Seminar |
2022 Fall
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| BIO 310 | Special Problems & Techniques |
| BIO 492 | Honors Directed Study |
| BIO 493 | Honors Thesis |
| BIO 499 | Individualized Instruction |
| MIC 495 | Undergraduate Research |
| BIO 494 | Special Topics |
| BIO 495 | Undergraduate Research |
| BIO 360 | Animal Physiology |
| BIO 361 | Animal Physiology Laboratory |
2022 Summer
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| BIO 495 | Undergraduate Research |
| BIO 495 | Undergraduate Research |
2022 Spring
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| BIO 492 | Honors Directed Study |
| BIO 493 | Honors Thesis |
| MIC 495 | Undergraduate Research |
| BIO 495 | Undergraduate Research |
| BIO 499 | Individualized Instruction |
2021 Fall
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| BIO 360 | Animal Physiology |
| BIO 310 | Special Problems & Techniques |
| BIO 492 | Honors Directed Study |
| BIO 493 | Honors Thesis |
| BIO 499 | Individualized Instruction |
| MIC 495 | Undergraduate Research |
| BIO 495 | Undergraduate Research |
| MBB 495 | Undergraduate Research |
| BIO 360 | Animal Physiology |
| BIO 360 | Animal Physiology |
| BIO 360 | Animal Physiology |
| ANB 602 | Current Issues In Behavior |
2025 Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa, Union College
2025-6 Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study Fellowship
2023 Behavioral Plasticity Research Institute Annual Meeting Plenary Speaker, College Station, TX
2022 Distinguished Arizona Physiologist Lecture, Arizona Physiological Society
2017 Kjell Johansen Lecture 2017, Aarhus, Denmark.
2016 August Krogh Plenary Lecture, American Physiological Society
2005 Elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
1990 The Scholander Award (Best paper by a young investigator) American Physiological Society, Orlando, FL
Co-Editor, Annual Review of Entomology, 2024-present
Co-Editor, Ecological and Evolutionary Physiology, 2023-present
Editorial Board, Journal of Insect Physiology. 2024-present
Panelist, 2025 Research Evaluation of the Department of Biology, Aarhus University
Co-organizer (with Nicolas Pichaud and Daniel Matias Gonzalez Tokman) symposium on Physiology of insects in a warming world: from cellular to ecological and evolutionary responses for the 2024 meeting of the International Congress of Entomology, Kyoto.
Co-organizer (with Caroline Williams and Lisa Dreidel) symposium on Insect Flight for the 2024 meeting of the Society for Integrative Biology.
2020-2024 Chair-Elect and Chair, Division of Comparative Physiology and Biochemistry, Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology
2018-19 President, Arizona Physiological Society
Co-organizer (with Phil Matthews) symposium on Insect Tracheal Systems for the American Physiological Society’s conference on Comparative Physiology: From Organisms to Omics in a Changing World, 2022.
Co-organizer (with Karen Kapheim) symposium on Protecting Pollinators and Our Food Supply: Understanding and Managing Threats to Pollinator Health for the 2022 Meeting of the International Union for the Study of Social Insects.
Co-organizer (with Meghan Duell) symposium on Causal Mechanisms of Interspecific Patterns in Metabolic Scaling, selected as a Society-Level Symposium for the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology (SICB) annual meeting, 2022.
Member, Organizing Committee for the 2022 Meeting of IUSSI (International
Union for the Study of Social Insects)
Co-organizer (with Adrian Fisher) symposium on Sublethal Effects of Agrochemicals on Pollinators, Physiology, Biochemistry and Toxicology Section of the Entomological Society of the America annual meeting, 2020
Co-organizer (with Leslie Buck) symposium on Comparative Insights into Animal Responses to Hypoxia and Anoxia” American Physiological Society Intersociety Meeting in Comparative Physiology (held October, 2018, New Orleans).
Steering Committee Member, APS International Congress in Comparative Physiology (2014)
Co-Organizer (with Kendra Greenlee) American Society for Physiology symposium at Experimental Biology, Boston, 2015 on “Effect of Changing Climate on Insect Respiration”
Co-Organizer (with Sherry Tamone) Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology 2015 symposium and workshop on “Physiology of the Pancrustaceae”
Organizer - XXIV International Congress of Entomology Symposium: “Mechanisms of regulation of growth rate, size and shape in insects” Daegu, Korea, 2012
Program Officer - Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology: 2011-2013
Organizer and Leader - NSF-Funded Workshops: “Variable Atmosphere Laboratory (VAL) for Climate Change Research” February, 2008 and August, 2009
Leader - Collaborative Development Team, Advanced X-ray Imaging Facility:Argonne National Labs
2008-2010 Chair, Organizing Committee - American Physiological Society Intersociety
Meeting: Comparative and Evolutionary Physiology
2005 Elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
2015 ASU Faculty Women’s Association Mentor Award
2010 ASU Parent’s Professor of the Year: Special Recognition
2010 ASU Graduate Mentor of the Year
2024-present Virginia M. Ullman Professor of Ecology
2012 - 2013 Assistant Vice-President, Research Infrastructure & Facilities Office of Knowledge Enterprise Development
2010 - 2013 Director of Research Infrastructure & Facilities Office of Knowledge Enterprise Development
2011-2013 University Research Integrity Officer Arizona State University
2011-2013 Institutional Official for Animal Care Arizona State University
2005 - 2009 Associate Director of Facilities School of Life Sciences
2002 - Present Professor School of Life Sciences
1997 - 2002 Associate Professor Department of Biology
1991 – 1997 Assistant Professor Department of Zoology
2024 – 2025 Member, SOLS Undergraduate Program Committee, Member, ASU Instrument Design and Fabrication Committee
2023 – 2024 Chair, SOLS Academic Program Review Committee, Member, SOLS Undergraduate Program Committee, Member, ASU Instrument Design and Fabrication Committee
Member, Search Committee for the Director of the School of Applied Sciences and Arts
2022–2023 Chair, STRI-ASU Initiative, Member, SOLS Undergraduate Program Committee, Member, ASU Instrument Design and Fabrication Governance Committee , Member, Search committee for the Director of the School of Applied Sciences and Arts, Member, ASU’s Higher Learning Commission Institutional Accreditation Committee
2021 -2022 Substitute CLAS Associate Dean for Facilities (2 months), Chair, STRI-ASU Initiative
Member, SOLS Undergraduate Program Committee, Chair, Physiology Instructor Search Committee Chair, Physiology Lecturer Search Committee
2020-2021 Chair, Physiology Instructor Search Committee, Co-chair, NACE Competencies Mapping Committee, Chair, STRI-ASU Initiative, Member, SOLS Biology Graduate Program Committee, Member, SOLS Undergraduate Program Committee, Member, SOLS Education Retreat Planning Committee, Member, Medical Biosciences M.Sc. Degree Committee