Parasites, Mate Choice, and MHC
Parasites can have dramatic affects on their hosts' populations, for example, regulating them or causing them to cycle. Hosts that have historically been plagued with fitness reducing parasites may have adapted strategies to counter the harm caused by parasites, employing behavioral and/or genetic defensive tactics. I am primarily interested in the interaction between the parasite and the host, how that relationship over time has directed adaptations in both, and that interaction's effect on social behavior of the host.
I will use parasites affecting montane vole (Microtus montanus) populations in the Rocky Mountains as a model system to investigate three main questions: (1) How does selection on MHC loci change in response to host population cycles? (2) Does mate choice depend on MHC-genotypes and host infection status? (3) How do parasites impact host fitness, and do animals with greater immunogenetic diversity experience lower rates of infection?
Evolution and Animal Behavior
For the past summers I have worked at RMBL (The Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory) on an ongoing study of social behavior in yellow-bellied marmots. I have recently worked with Dr. Dan Blumstein to try to determine if marmots have the ability to recognize extant and locally extinct predator vocalizations. Other marmot related work includes identifying what is being communicated when marmot pups scream and why they do it. I am also interested in genetic factors that may influence parasite resistance in these social animals.
Outreach
