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
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! |
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!
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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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!
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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