|
Philip Stoddard, professor
Stephanie Sardinas
lab manager
Vanessa Trujilllo,
doctoral candiate
Tanja Zerulla-Zhang
doctoral candidate
Catalina Mantilla,
doctoral candidate
Luis Lopez
masters student
Heba Ali,
doctoral student
Victoria Cano
technician
|
|
Susan
Allee
My
broad research interests focus on examining and interpreting
behavior using an ecological and physiological approach to contribute
to our knowledge and understanding of behavioral diversity. I
am particularly drawn to studying animals whose behaviors and
ecology are relatively unknown and understudied. I believe
studying unique animals can contribute greatly to a world relatively
dominated by ‘model’ systems that cannot possibly
represent the range of diversity seen in nature. My questions
focus on how animals make decisions and how the outcome of those
decisions may affect their life histories.
The
aim of my master’s thesis research was to determine how
male gulf toadfish, Opsanus beta, select nest sites
and how those choices affected their mating success (Allee and
Bennett, in prep). Males provide parental care for the
eggs and young and must attract females to their nests so they
can deposit their eggs. Nest site selection, particularly
in an environment where naturally occurring structures such as
pen shells have been extirpated, is an important factor in how
successful a male will be at attracting a mate and raising his
offspring.
My
current research focuses on how the electric organ discharge
(EOD) of the weakly electric knifefish Brachyhypopomus pinnicaudatus is
involved in mating behaviors (mate attraction, selection, etc.). An
additional layer in my doctoral research deals with how plastic
or static different EOD components are and specifically, which
components contain information about an individual’s condition
(=resources consumed). |
|