Region:

Africa, Australia, Bahamas, Canada (British Columbia), Ecuador

Our research links behavior to ecology, conservation, and evolution in a wide range of systems around the world. Past research has focused on how behavioral variation impacts basic ecological processes such as seed dispersal in tropical forests. Other research projects address the evolution of sexual dimorphism and mate choice and the fitness consequences of behavioral variation in several taxa, including lizards and birds. We link behavior to the conservation of endangered species, the distributions of different taxa, and the dynamics of populations as they move between breeding and overwintering grounds. We use a broad range of techniques to study behavior, including observations, field and laboratory-based experiments, and molecular approaches such as microsatellites and amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP).