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Carla C. VanderbiltPhD Candidate
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I have a general interest in animal communication, complex displays, and sexual selection. My dissertation research investigates the causes of variation in the performance of complex, acrobatic displays in the lance-tailed manakin (Aves: Pipridae, Chiroxiphia lanceolata), and the resulting fitness consequences of that variation.
In particular, my research addresses three key questions: 1) What factors influence variation in display performance, 2) How does male display performance influence female mate choice, and 3) How do males choose which female to direct their displays toward when there are multiple females present during a single courtship event?
In particular, my research addresses three key questions: 1) What factors influence variation in display performance, 2) How does male display performance influence female mate choice, and 3) How do males choose which female to direct their displays toward when there are multiple females present during a single courtship event?
Updates
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July 2018: I attended the ABS Conference in Milwaukee, WI and had a wonderful time. I gave an oral presentation on my current research titled, "Male-female interactions during courtship in a lekking bird with complex, acrobatic displays". I was even lucky enough to win a drawing for the Echo Meter Touch 2 Bat Detector that is able to decipher ultrasonic echolocation calls and determine the most likely species. I met some really amazing researchers and enjoyed catching up with old friends.
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October 2017: I'm a TA for the Ornithology Lab again this year, and my lab is a great group! We had a smaller than usual enrollment for the course, which meant that I got to know the students really well and there was a lot of one-on-one learning. The photo here is from a Saturday field trip we took to Tall Timbers Research Station.
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June 2017: I attended the Animal Behavior Society Conference in Toronto, Canada. It was the first time that the entire DuVal lab attended a conference together (and my first time in Canada), so it was a lot of fun! I gave an oral presentation titled, "Male-male cooperative courtship and variation with individual female mate search tactics".
I took a short trip to Niagara Falls after the conference since I was in the area, and was not disappointed! 
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March 2017: My undergraduate student, Amanda Beckman, was accepted into a PhD program in Ecology and Evolution at Texas A&M for next Fall! Amanda completed her 2-semester DIS project titled, "Understanding the effects of male interactions on social networks and later social status" last Fall. We are really excited about the results from her project, and are currently working on writing it up to publish in a peer-reviewed scientific journal together.
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August 2016: I attended the second official NSF Manakin Genomics RCN meeting in Washington, D.C. The RCN is meant to facilitate discussions between manakin researchers to develop new collaborative and comparative research projects together. I'm in charge of the "Comparative Studies of Female Mate Choice" working group, and am excited about the project we synthesized while at the meeting and are currently working on.
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July 2016: I attended the International Society for Behavioral Ecology (ISBE) Conference in Exeter, England (my first time ever across the pond!), and met many new people from a wide variety of different countries, and learned about some amazing new research projects. I presented a poster titled, "Repeatability of courtship performance and variation in male-female interactions".
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June 2016: I'm the TA for a lab section of Animal Diversity this summer. For this class, students learn about major taxonomic groups of animals and the diversity of development and body plans within those groups. We do a lot of dissections and close examination of preserved specimens, and it's great to see the students excited about the diversity present in this amazing world!
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January 2016: I presented at the FSU Ecology and Evolution Seminar Series today. The title of my talk was, "Understanding variation in display performance and mate choice".
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May 2016: I was the TA for Dr. Emily Lemmon's class, Experimental Biology (Behavior of Reptiles and Amphibians) this Spring. The students each had to develop their own research project, and I supervised the labs where we would go out into the field and carry out their projects. This was such a fun class, and it was great to see how much the students learned by actively doing science themselves!
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September 2015: I'm a TA of the Ornithology lab this semester, and am really enjoying it. Most of our labs are inside looking at museum specimens, but here's a photo from our recent class trip to St. Marks NWR!
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August 2015: Attended the Manakin Genomics NSF RCN in Front Royal, Virginia. I had a great time talking with other manakin biologists and learning about all of the awesome research everyone is doing. I'm hoping that this will lead to some cool collaborations!
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July 2015: The first paper from my dissertation research is now published in Animal Behaviour! Visit the following link to download the article: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347215002407
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July 2015: Awarded a NSF Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant! I'm extremely excited to expand my dissertation research with the help of this award.
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June 2015: Presented a talk titled, "Does practice make perfect? Understanding how experience relates to courtship display performance" at the Animal Behavior Society Conference in Anchorage, Alaska.
After the conference, I went on a short backpacking trip in Denali National Park! |
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May 2015: FSU undergraduates Jasity Rush and Carolin Hoeflich completed their Directed Independent Study projects, and I mentored them throughout the spring semester. Jasity's project was titled, "How do 'eek' vocalizations during courtship affect female choice in the lance-tailed manakin?", and Carolin's project was titled, "Variation in the displays of lance-tailed manakins". Both gave great final presentations!
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February 2015: Two photos taken from our manakin videos were accepted into an art exhibit in the Dirac Science Library at FSU as part of an Art in STEM Research event meant to inspire students to see the beauty in scientific research.
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December 2014: FSU undergraduate Nicholas Hanley completed his Directed Independent Study project titled, "The effects of vegetation and sunlight on the courtship behavior of the Lance-tailed Manakin". I mentored Nicholas throughout the Fall semester.
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October 2014: Presented a poster at the FSU Natural Sciences Graduate Symposium.
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June 2014: Returned from a successful field season in Panama, complete with lots of DNA samples, videos, and behavioral observation data (Thanks to field assistants Bradley Wilkinson, Philip Kavouriaris, and Abigail Barenblitt for their great work!).
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February 2014: Left for Isla Boca Brava, Panama for my last field season of research on Lance-tailed Manakin behavior.
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December 2013: FSU undergraduate Hannah Wilson completed her Directed Independent Study project titled, "The role of maintenance activity in the Lance-tailed Manakin". I mentored Hannah throughout the Fall semester, and she decided to continue to work on the project in an Honors Thesis with the DuVal Lab where she received funding to travel to Panama to collect additional data in the spring.
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July 2013: Presented a talk titled, "Display complexity and social context in the Lance-tailed Manakin" at the Animal Behavior Society Conference in Boulder, Colorado.
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May 2013: Returned to FSU from Panama with thousands of hours of continuous video from Lance-tailed Manakin display perches
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May 2013: Awarded the American Ornithologists' Union's Alexander Wetmore Memorial Research Award
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February 2013: Left for Isla Boca Brava, Panama for field research on Lance-tailed Manakin behavior
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January 2013: Awarded the Society for Integrative & Comparative Biology Grants in Aid of Research
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