Faculty Profiles

Charles J. Amlaner Jr.

Professor

D. Phil., Oxford University

Phone: 812-237-2405
E-mail: camlaner@indstate.edu
Office: Science Building 277

Windows Media VideoResearch Video: Regular (8.67 mb) - Lo-Res (1.91 mb)

Research Interests:sleep physiology; biotelemetry; optimality theory of behavior.

Dr. Amlaner's long-term objectives are to provide the evidence required to explain the alternative theories of the functions of sleep and to explain the role of sleep in the organization of behavior. Along with members of the Animal Sleep Research Group, Dr. Amlaner is currently identifying and defining the sleep states of free-living birds in relation to accepted categories using physiological biotelemetry. The complete sleep patterns of birds in the wild are being measured with an emphasis on detailed studies of individual animals. This research focuses attention on ways in which sleep patterns are modified in response to ecological circumstances. The costs and benefits to evolutionary fitness resulting from the observed behavior patterns is also being assessed. Conclusions and models thus derived are tested using experimental manipulations in the field and amplified by selected laboratory work.

Research Students and Personal Websites

Selected Publications

Lesku JA, Roth TC, Amlaner CJ & Lima SL. A phylogenetic analysis of sleep architecture in mammals: the integration of anatomy, physiology, and ecology. The American Naturalist: in review.

Roth, T.C., G.S. Bakken, C.J. Amlaner, and S.L. Lima. The Thermal Effects of Radio Transmitter Attachment on Small Birds. Journal of Field Ornithology, In review.

Roth, T.C., J.A. Lesku, C.J. Amlaner, and S.L. Lima. A phylogenetic analysis of sleep architecture in birds. Journal of Sleep Research.In review.

Lesku JA, Rattenborg NC & Amlaner CJ. 2006. The evolution of sleep: a phylogenetic approach. In Sleep: a Comprehensive Handbook (Ed. by Lee-Chiong TL), pp. in press. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., In Press.

Mathews GM, Lesku JA, Lima SL & Amlaner CJ, 2006, Asynchronous eye closure as an anti-predator behavior in the western fence lizard (Sceloporus occidentalis), Ethology: Accepted for publication.

Lima SL, Rattenborg NC, Lesku JA & Amlaner CJ. 2005. Sleeping under the risk of predation. Animal Behaviour 70: 723-736.

C. J. Amlaner, R. Green, M. Hanson, G. Nichols, N. Rogers and C. Thibodeau, (writing team is in alphabetical order with equal participation in publication) 2003, Sleep, Sleep Disorders, and Biological Rhythms: a National Institutes of Health Curriculum Supplement Series for 9-12 science teachers, Biological Sciences Curriculum Study-National Institutes of Health Publication. pp147.

Niels Rattenborg and Charles Amlaner, 2002, Phylogeny of Sleep, in Sleep Medicine, edited by Teofilo L. Lee-Chiong, Michael J. Satela, and Mary Carskadon, Hanley and Belfus Inc. Philadelphia, p. 7-22

Rattenborg, N. C., C. J. Amlaner, and S. L. Lima. 2001. Unilateral eye closure and interhemispheric EEG asymmetry during sleep in the pigeon (Columba livia). Brain, Behavior and Evolution 58: 323-332.

Rattenborg, N. C., C. J. Amlaner, and S. L. Lima. 2000. Behavioral, neurophysiological and evolutionary perspectives on unihemispheric sleep. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 24: 817-842.

Mathews, C. G. and C. J. Amlaner. 2000. Eye states and postures of the western fence lizard (Sceloporus occidentalis) with special reference to asynchronous eye closure and behavioral sleep. Journal of Herpetology 34: 472-475.

Rattenborg, N. C., S. L. Lima, and C. J. Amlaner. 1999. Facultative control of avian unihemispheric sleep under the risk of predation. Behavior Brain Research 105: 163-172.

Rattenborg, N. C., S. L. Lima, and C. J. Amlaner. 1999. Half-awake to the risk of predation. Nature 397: 397-398.

Amlaner, C. J. and N. J. Ball. 1994. Avian Sleep. In: Principles and Practice of Sleep Medicine (M. H. Kryger, T. Roth and W. C. Dement, eds.), pp. 81-94. W. B. Saunders Company, Philadelphia.

N. J. Ball, C. J. Amlaner Jr., J. P. Shaffery and M. R. Opp, 1988, Asynchronous eye-closure and unihemispheric quiet sleep of birds, In: Sleep '86, Edited by W. P. Koella, F. Obal, H. Schulz and P. Visser, Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart, pp 151-153

M. R. Opp, N. J. Ball, D. Miller and C. J. Amlaner Jr. 1987. Thermoregulation and sleep: Effects of thermal stress on sleep patterns of Glaucous winged gulls, Larus glaucescens. J. Therm. Biol. 12:199-202

J. P. Shaffery, N. J. Ball and C. J. Amlaner Jr. 1985. Daytime sleep in Herring gulls: A time budget manipulation. Animal Behaviour 33:566-572

N. J. Ball, J. P. Shaffery and C. J. Amlaner Jr. 1984. Sleeping gulls and predator avoidance. Animal Behaviour 32:1253-1266

D. W. Macdonald and C. J. Amlaner Jr. 1981. Listening to wildlife. New Scientist 89:466-469

C. J. Amlaner, Jr. and D. W. Macdonald.1980.A Handbook on Biotelemetry and Radio Tracking, eds., Pergamon Press, Oxford, pp 851.

C. J. Amlaner Jr. and D. J. McFarland. 1980. Sleep in the herring gull (Larus argentatus). Animal Behaviour 29:551-556

C. J. Amlaner Jr. 1978. Biotelemetry from free ranging animals. In: Animal Marking: Recognition Marking of Animals in Research, ed., B. Stonehouse, The Macmillan Press, Ltd., pp. 205-228


The Sleep Laboratory's 16 channel digital-video camera recording system and playback units for video taping sleeping animals from every possible angle to capture eye-closure.


Dr. Niels Rattenborg (left) received the "Outstanding Young Investigator's Paper Award" from the Association of Professional Sleep Societies at its annual meeting.