Sexual Selection and Communication in Physalaemus pustulosus:   This work was initiated by myself and  Dr. A. Stanley Rand.  Stan was a staff scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama.  He passed away in November 2005 (click here for his obituatry). Together with  Dr. Walt Wilczynski (Georgia State University) and Dr. David Cannatella (University of Texas) we have been investigating the sexual communication system of the túngara frog, Physalaemus pustulosus. Our approach is multi-disciplinary addressing questions in  three arenas of investigation: brain, behavior and evolution Click here for a several page synopsis of túngara frog research, for a more recent review article on tungara frogs,  a "QuickGuide" (Current Biology) to the frogs,  or for more on the Túngara project.

Studies with Dr. Ryan Taylor (Salisbury University) and colleagues utilize robotic frogs to gain insights into the imortance of multimodal communication in sexual selection. Go to the multimedia page to see a video clip of the robofrogs in action.

Studies with Dr. Ham Farris (LSU Medical School) investiagte various aspects of psychoacosutics in tungara frogs with emphasis on perceptual binding of the whine and the chuck, and on attemtps to understand the general challenges of auditory scene analysis in a noisy environment.

Multi Media.  Videos & calls of this research for download are posted on Multi Media page.
Undergrad Researchers. If you are a UT undergrad looking for lab experience, click here.
Interns and Assistants.  Each summer (June to August inclusive) we hire assistants. Click here if you are interested.

(photo by Alex Baugh)

Factors Influencing Phenotypic and Genotypic Polymorphism in Male Body Size in the Swordtails (Xiphophorus: Poeciliidae: Pisces): In swordtails variation at the P allele controls most of the variation in body size in most species. A variety of studies are addressing behavioral correlates of the P allele, the maintenance of its variation in nature, and the historical patterns of preferences in females and P alleles in males in the clade of northern swordtails.

We recently identified the P gene as the melanocortin 4 receptor, and showed that: (i) there is copy number variation in mc4r, (ii) Y-linked alleles result in non-functional receptors, and (iii) there is a correlation between male size and copy number of Y-linked alleles (Lampert et al. 2010). Current studies with Dr. Manfred Schartl (Wurzburg Univ, Germany) and Dr. Hans Hoffman in this Section are exploring the molecular genetics, neurobiology and behavioral evolution of this system.

The Amazon Molly

Behavioral Factors in the Maintenance of an Asexual-Sexual Species Complex of Mollies: The Amazon molly, Poecilia formosa, is an all-female speceis that reproduces clonally, but females must mate with males of the sexual species, P. latipinna, to acquire sperm necessary to trigger embryogenesis. The main question of our reserach asks, why would male sailfins mate with female Amazons if there is no reproductive benefit to the male? Click here for one of the answers. Much of this work is in collaboration with Dr. Ingo Schlupp of the University of Oklahoma.

Frog-eating Bats

Trachops cirrhosus, the fringe-lipped or frog-eating bat, is an eavesdropping predator that locates anuran prey by their calls. Not only do these bats rapidly learn to associate particular cues with the palatbility of their prey, they can do so by observing the behavior of other individuals. Patty Jones and former lab member Dr. Rachel A. Page, a Research Scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Resarch Institute in Panama, are investigating the cognitive ecology of T.cirrhosus, including learning and memory, as well as predation on multiple types of prey, social behavior, and echolocation.