In general, my lab and I advance and utilize a field experimental approach to behavioral and evolutionary ecology, employing mostly lizards as model subjects. We are particularly interested in the development of lizard social organization at both the ontogenetic and evolutionary levels, studying lizards in the United States, Mexico, and Chile. The study of sexual selection is an important aspect of that. Another focus is the behavioral ecology associated with tail autotomy in lizards, exploring the use of the tail in lizards as a status signalling badge. We also conduct research on herp community ecology, especially freshwater turtle communities. A recent, applied, research focus is on the distribution, abundance and habitat affiliations of the Ringed Salamander in Oklahoma--an ecologically cryptic, episodic, fall breeder from the mountainous eastern part of the state. Some of my students and I have been involved in research related to worldwide amphibian declines, especially those related to ranavirus and the chytrid fungus Bd.
Current research projects
Precocial sexual selection in collared lizards
The Ringed Salamander in Oklahoma
Group living and parental care in a high-elevation Chilean lizard
Sexually different costs of tail autotomy in Uta stansburiana
Temperature-dependent sex determination in Crotaphytus collaris
Predator escape ecology in Chilean lizards
Threatened turtle communities in eastern Oklahoma