We are excited to have two new collaborators and PhD students in the lab! Kelly joins us from SUNY-Binghamton, where she studied coloration of water anoles. Leah Bakewell joins the lab from Sul-Ross State University, where she earned an MS studying the immune system of red-spotted toads. Welcome to south Florida!
Our new paper on how resting metabolic rate differs between sexes differently on different islands was just published in Physiological and Biochemical Zoology! In this manuscript, we demonstrate that males from a population of brown anoles with greater male-biased sexual size dimorphism have lower metabolic rates than those from a population with less male-biased sexual size dimorphism. We then discuss the mechanisms that might underly this interesting pattern. This paper is the culmination of work that first author John David Curlis and I began in Bob Cox's lab at the University of Virginia. Check out the link to read the paper!
Our new paper on antipredator displays in ringneck snakes was just published in the journal Ethology! We found that tactile, rather than visual stimuli, induce antipredator displays in ringneck snakes. These snakes have a bright orange venter, and tactile stimuli cause them to writhe and show their venter and bottom of the tail. This work came out of a class project for the Field Herpetology class at Mountain Lake Biological Station. Check out the link to read the paper!
Our new paper on the spatial and temporal dynamics of color polymorphism in the southern cricket frog was just published in the Journal of Natural History! This work was the culmination of a couple of undergraduate research projects and a collaboration with Jeff Streicher at the Natural History Museum. We found more spatial than temporal variation in color polymorphism, and also documented variation in multiple color traits. We suggest that cricket frogs may have exuberant color polymorphism, where the variation in multiple color traits creates up to a dozen or more color morphs within a population. Check out the link to read the paper!
Collaborator Mike Logan and myself have just published a new paper on integrative biology and inferring adaptation. In this perspective paper, we argue that deeply integrative studies of only a few species can serve as a useful complement to broad comparative studies with many species. Check out the link to read the paper!
Lab alum John David just published his Master's research in Proceedings of the Royal Society B! He studied the evolution of diversity in color traits that are associated with mimicry and those that are not associated with mimicry. Great job John David!
Check out the link to read the paper. We have just published a new paper on sex-biased parasitism in the slender anole! We found that male slender anoles have many more ectoparasites (trombiculid mites) than female slender anoles, but this pattern seem to be driven by the larger dewlap of males. Mites preferentially attach to the dewlaps of males, perhaps because of the relatively wide spacing between the gorgetal scales of the dewlap. Our work suggests that male slender anoles might pay a fitness cost (in the form of increased parasitism) for having a sexual signal. Check out the link to read the paper: https://academic.oup.com/biolinnean/article-abstract/131/4/785/5983170?redirectedFrom=fulltext Trombiculid mites (little white spots) on the dewlap of a male slender anole.
Our new paper on the thermal ecology of the bark centipede (Scolopocryptops sexspinosus) was just published in the Journal of Thermal Biology! This paper features the research of two talented undergraduate researchers at Georgia Southern University. Check out the link to read the paper:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306456520305271 Our review paper on how genetic constraints and transcriptome plasticity can impact the evolutionary response to climate change was just published in Frontiers in Genetics! This article was part of a special issue on "Coping with Climate Change: A Genomic Perspective on Thermal Adaptation". Congrats to first author Mike Logan at University of Nevada Reno, who was the mastermind behind this paper. Check out the link to read the article:
https://preview.tinyurl.com/y5psrfv5 Noah Gripshover joins the new Cox lab at Florida International University! Noah has broad interests in ecology and evolution, particularly in the evolution of feeding. Noah got his undergraduate degree from the University of Louisville. He joins the lab at Florida International University from the University of Cincinatti, where he got his M.S. studying feeding behavior of crayfish snakes. He will bring his expertise in studying feeding ecology and behavior to one of the systems in the laboratory. Welcome, Noah!
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