About
17
Publications
8,790
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108
Citations
Introduction
My research integrates evolution, behavior, and sensory ecology. I am currently a Research Assistant Professor at North Carolina State University. My postdoc and PhD used livebearing fish as a model system to investigate the evolutionary processes contributing to variation in chemosensory behaviors and social learning. For my M.Sc. thesis I investigated chemosensory signals in beetles.
Current institution
Additional affiliations
November 2023 - October 2024
Position
- Research Scholar
Description
- I am the head of the specimen processing lab for the Epidemiology and Environmental Epigenetics Research Group in the Center for Human Health and the Environment. My independent research looks at the concentration of various metals in different environmental media to identify potential routes of exposure for human health outcomes.
August 2022 - December 2023
Position
- Postdoctoral Research Schola
Description
- For my postdoctoral experience, I worked with Kimberly Hughes researching behavioral genetics and negative frequency dependent selection in Trinidadian guppies. I assessed the influence of mate-choice copying behavior on female preference for novel male color patterns (i.e., the "rare male advantage"). I managed the live animal research facilities and supervised all undergraduate researches participating in Directed Independent Study.
August 2017 - December 2022
Position
- Research Assistant
Description
- My PhD research focused on how predation environment drives variation in chemosensory-mediated risk detection, social learning, and brain size in the freshwater fish, Brachyrhaphis rhabdophora. My research encompassed a diversity of data types and methods, such as behavioral experiments, comparative morphology, and modeling.
Education
August 2017 - May 2021
January 2014 - December 2016
August 2009 - May 2013
Publications
Publications (17)
Reliance on social learning for mating decisions (i.e. 'mate choice copying') is taxonomically widespread and can influence the strength of sexual selection in a population. Theory suggests that a balance of social and individual learning, as well as stable individual behaviour in the propensity to copy mate choices, may help maintain variation in...
Although variation in effect sizes and predicted values among studies of similar phenomena is inevitable, such variation far exceeds what might be produced by sampling error alone. One possible explanation for variation among results is differences among researchers in the decisions they make regarding statistical analyses. A growing array of studi...
Adaptive zones are defined as ecological opportunities for lineages to diversify. Cucujoid beetles provide a unique system to investigate adaptive zones, specifically the interplay between factors that may predict diversity and mechanisms such as competition that may limit diversification. Using a taxon-rich, time-calibrated phylogeny of cucujoid b...
Predator–prey dynamics have led to a strong selection of prey's ability to detect and
respond to information about the risk environment. Further, intrinsic factors, such
as sex, may cause prey to perceive and respond to information differently. Chemical
alarm cues from injured conspecifics are a classic example of how prey have evolved
to use publi...
Although variation in effect sizes and predicted values among studies of similar phenomena is inevitable, such variation far exceeds what might be produced by sampling error alone. One possible explanation for variation among results is differences among researchers in the decisions they make regarding statistical analyses. A growing array of studi...
Regional populations of geographically widespread species may respond to different environmental factors across the species' range, generating divergent effects of climate change on life-history phenology. Using thousands of citizen science observations extracted from iNaturalist and associated with corresponding temperature, precipitation, elevati...
Insect chemical ecology (ICE) evolved as a discipline concerned with plant-insect interactions, and also with a strong focus on intraspecific pheromone-mediated communication. Progress in this field has rendered a more complete picture of how insects exploit chemical information in their surroundings in order to survive and navigate their world suc...
The hunting billbug Sphenophorus venatus Say (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Dryophothorinae) is a generalist stem-boring pest on warm- and cool-season grasses. The objectives of this work were to (1) investigate adult feeding preference for four common turfgrass host species and (2) explore whether adults are attracted to the volatile odors emitted by...
The family Nitidulidae is known for its diverse life histories, with some species considered economically detrimental pests, while others perform critical ecosystem functions. Despite this, their evolutionary relationships still lack support and understanding. A robust phylogenetic hypothesis and revised taxonomic classification for this group, par...
Beetles in the genus Sphenophorus Schönherr, or billbugs, potentially utilize both volatile and non-volatile behavior-modifying chemical signals. These insects are widely distributed across North America, often occurring in multi-species assemblages in grasses. However, details about their host- and mate-finding behavior are poorly understood. This...
Eleven species of billbugs (Coleoptera: Dryophthoridae: Sphenophorus spp. Schönherr) infest managed turfgrass in North America. However, the regional variation in species composition remains unresolved and the seasonal phenology of several species has not been well documented. The latter gap is largely due to the inability to identify the larval st...
A new species of Ctilodes Murray, 1864 (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae) was recovered in material from Vietnam during a large study of Carpophilinae. A description and detailed diagnosis of Ctilodes clinei Powell and Duffy new species is presented here along with a key to identify all currently known species of Ctilodes.
