Research Interests

My academic goals are multi-fold and intertwining.   I seek to integrate a broad set of theoretical and empirical research goals aimed at understanding the reproductive and mating strategies in diverse animal societies.   In particular, I am interested in the genetic, environmental, physiological, and social factors that favor cooperation and spur sexual conflict in socially monogamous, polygynous and polyandrous breeders.

Much of my research studies involve investigations of termites.   Termites are the second largest taxon to exhibit monogamous biparental care in early colony founding.   In many termite species, polygyny and polyandry are the dominant mating systems among reproductives that replace the nest-founding pair. Unlike in most insect societies (e.g., ants, bees, wasp and thrips), both sexes participate extensively in all phases of the termite nesting cycle. Thus, the mating strategies and reproductive roles of termite males and females are extraordinarily similar to vertebrates, such as cooperatively breeding birds. Surprisingly, little hypothesis testing has been conducted on this group, even though the comparative data may prove vital for a fuller understanding of the monogamous mating system. My empirical work (behavioral, genetic and ecological) on termite mating and reproductive strategies is compared and contrasted with theoretical and empirical studies developed for arthropods, birds, fishes, and mammals, including humans.   I take a multi-dimensional approach in my design of tests.  

Recently, I have shifted my focus to investigating the breeding behavior and nesting strategies of ground squirrels.   In association with my husband and research partner Paul Sherman, we have discovered cooperation among some, but not all, nest breeding females of the Washington ground squirrel, Spermophilus washingtoni .   Thus far, we have uncovered joint burrow sharing, and allonursing among some females.   Ecological pressures abound in this species, both from ground and aerial predators, and from dispersal pressures created by the unusual geography in which they live (in deep coulee corridors cut by ancient glacial floods). Our current efforts are to explore the ultimate and proximate causes that favor cooperation and that account for the plasticity of such an important behavior.

In sum, I am an observer of animal behavior, animal ecology, and behavioral interactions. I like integrating tests that investigate the plasticity of behavioral responses to varying ecological pressures, and this is probably why most of my work is done in the field rather than in the lab. I am keenly aware of how individual-level relatedness can affect interactions among members living in groups.   For example, changes in a breeding partner or extra-pair paternity can lead to conflict among offspring, whereas shared relatedness between sexually breeding partners could enhance the benefits of cooperation among their offspring. I enjoy testing hypotheses developed from field observations in laboratory experiments. Whether my interests are focused on termites, birds, ground squirrels, or even humans, I incorporate my research interests into my teaching efforts, and I seek to give my students the theoretical and research insights that will challenge them to probe the untapped riches of animal behavior.