Current Faculty

Andrew, Alan T.
(Microbiology/Immunology)

Ayebo, Amadu D.
(Microbiology)

Bharathan, Narayanaswamy
(Molecular Virology)

Bharathan, Seema
(Microbiology)

Bi, Shundong
(Comparative/Human Anatomy)

Brenneman, William M.
(Zoology)

Browe, Andrew C.
(Physiology)

Butler, W. Barkley
(Cell Molecular)

Ciskowski, Gary J.
(Microbiology)

Gendron, Robert P.
(Ecology)

Hinrichsen, Robert D.
(Cell Molecular)

Irani, Vida
(Microbiology)

Jack, Martha J.
(General Biology)

Larkin, Jeffery
(Ecology)

Lord, Thomas R.
(Biology Education)

Luciano, Carl S.
(Virology)

Nealen, Paul M.
(Neurophysiology)

Newell, Sandra J.
(Plant Ecology)

Peard, Terry L.
(Biology Education)

Peterson, Russell L.
(Developmental)

Pistole, David H.
(Physiology)

Simmons, Thomas W.
(Environmental Health)

Winstead, Ray L.
(Biostatistics/Ornithology)

Interests

I am studying an aphid, Hormaphis hamamelidis, that forms galls on the leaves of witch hazel plants. Each gall contains a female (the stem mother) and up to 50-70 of her offspring, all daughters. Galls are not distributed randomly, but instead tend to be clumped on certain leaves and trees. I am interested in the behavioral mechanisms that cause this clumping and how this affects the reproductive success of both the aphids and the plants. There are other aspects to this insect-plant interaction that are also quite interesting. For example, some of the aphids within a gall appear to act as "workers," leaving reproduction to their sisters. This phenomenon may shed some light on the evolution of social behavior in insects.

For many years I have also done research on foraging behavior. I have just completed a study of food storage behavior in small mammals. A colleague and I have developed a computer simulation model to help us understand how animals decide which food to eat right away and which ones to store in long term caches.