January 2006

Libby Landeen presentation at the 17th UBRP Conference is on the frontpage of Arizona Daily Wildcat

Libby presented her work on "Evolution of avian sexual ornamentation: Developmental co-regulation of feather growth and coloration" focusing on organism-wide consequences of trade-offs in pigmentation allocation among feather types in birds.

(roll over for other conference photos)

November 2005

Terri Hamstra discovers an amazing diversity of previously unknown or rare finch ectoparasites

Including Genus Dermoglyphus not recorded previously in finches. Among others are feather mite Strelkoviacarus spp. found on the outside of feathers, chewing lice Menacanthus alaudae and Ricinus microcephalus, as well as a common blood-sucking mite Pellonyssus reedi.

(roll over each image for stereoscope view and scientific name)
Photos by Terri Hamstra © 2005

October 2005

LOS ALTOS, California—The David and Lucile Packard Foundation has named 16 promising scientists in physics, chemistry, mathematics, biology, astronomy, computer science, earth science and ocean science as the 2005 Packard Fellows in Science and Engineering. The 100 nominations by presidents of 50 universities were reviewed by the Fellowship Advisory Panel, a group of nationally recognized scientists, which recommended 16 Fellows for approval by the Packard Foundation Board of Trustees.

The recipients of the 2005 Packard Fellowships in Science and Engineering are:
Alexander Badyaev
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona...>>>"

September 2005

Becca Young's research subject is made into a movie

An Arizona's montane shrew, Sorex monticolus, collected and identified by Becca Young is chosen as a voucher speciment for the Digital Morphology NSF project. The speciment was analyzed by a high-resolution X-ray computed tomography and converted into a series of fascinating 3D movies (e.g., 1, 2, 3).

September 2005

Jay Meyers, Takashi Kodera join the lab

Jay Meyers's postdoctoral research focuses on ecomorphology of the locomotor and feeding systems, specifically in response to resource specialization. Jay brings to the lab an expertise in studies of the evolution and selection of performance traits. Takashi Kodera's project in the lab deals with the effects of spatial structure on selection in free-living populations. Takashi's previous M.Sc. research in mechanical engineering, computer-aided design, and the computational fluid dynamics further contributes to the lab's focus on the evolution and ecology of complex traits.

August 2005

Renee Duckworth's research is featured in Science

In an expanded News Focus report, Science Magazine featured Renee's research on the evolutionary consequences of behavioral variation in western and mountain bluebirds.

July 2005

Terri Hamstra presents her graduate research at the 2005 General Biology Program Poster Session

Terri Hamstra presented her research on the "Evolution of parasite avoidance strategies in a passerine bird", focusing on her investigation of ectoparasite diversity, temporal fluctuation in vertical and horizontal transmission of parasites, as well as behavioral and ecological parasite avoidance strategies of avian hosts.

July 2005

Ernie Solares presents his research at the 2005 ABN (NIH) Meeting

Ernie Solares gave a talk and a poster on his summer internship research on the "Causes of sex-ratio variation is passerine birds" specifically focusing on the effects of sexual selection intensity and variation in physiological condition on sex ratio evolution.

July 2005

Trek across Silver Run/Beartooth Plateaus

Taking a five-day pause from the finches and bluebirds correspondingly, Alex Badyaev, Renee Duckworth undertake an insanely non-human 90km trek to a remote corner of the Silver Run alpine plateau on a quest to find the birthing grounds of mountain goats and the summer range of the Beartooth wolf pack. Found both! Watching about 30 newborn goat kids clumsily learning their extended phenotype - The Rock - was amazing, while the daily sight of a large male grizzly turning over tent-sized boulders searching for chipmunk nests and ignoring the two plump little humans nearby was sobering. A few-second glimpse of the wolf pack was worth all the many years trying to find them in the summer.

May 2005

Ernie Solares, Clair Secomb join the lab

Ernie Solares is a researcher with the Arizona Biology Network (NIH). His research project and training in the lab focus on the evolution of sexual ornamentation in a natural population of birds. Ernie's other interests include biology and conservation of marine organisms. Clair Secomb is an Honors College student and a National Merit Scholar majoring in Molecular & Cellular Biology and Math. She is helping with biochemical and molecular work. When not in the lab, Clair is a violin and orchestral music coach for Tucson Junior Strings.

May 2005

Becca Young receives the 2005 Grant-in-Aid Award from the American Society of Mammalogists

Becca Young was awarded $1500 (the maximum amount) by the American Society of Mammalogists for her proposal on the evolution of functional intergration in Soricidae shrews.

April-August 2005

Libby Landeen is solo hiking Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine over this summer

Read the first set of cards - Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia - here. Read the second set of cards here. More later (if Libby makes it)...

April 2005

Kevin Oh, Terri Hamstra, and Libby Landeen receive the 2005 Silliman Awards for Ornithological Research...

...for research ranging from genetic complementarity (Kevin) and ectoparasite ecology (Terri) to complex pattern formation in coloration (Libby).

January 2005

Libby Landeen joins the lab

Libby's independent research project in the lab will combine proximate and ultimate mechanisms behind complex pattern formation in coloration and will include elements of biochemistry, mathematics, and animal behavior. When she is not in the lab, Libby is a professional hiking guide.

January 2005

Erin Lindstedt and Jerod Merkle present their research at the 16th Annual UBRP conference

Erin presented her work on "Evolution of extra-pair mating strategies in a socially monogamous bird: Causes and consequences" and Jerod's presentation was titled "Sexual ornamentation as an indicator of future parental care".