The goal of my research is to understand why
and how embryos hatch when they do. I am particularly interested in the ability
of embryos to facultatively alter the developmental stage at which they hatch,
in response to changing risks in the egg and post-hatching environments.
My study organisms are amphibians and their enemies, and research in my lab
includes both tropical and temperate components.
(1) In the neotropics (currently Panama), I study hatching plasticity and embryonic defenses in the red-eyed treefrog, Agalychnis callidryas, and its congeners. Red-eyed treefrogs perform behaviorally-mediated early hatching in response to at least 4 different egg stage risks. Current work addresses how the embryos detect these risks, and how they decide when to hatch.
(2) In New England, I will be addressing hatching stage variation and its fitness consequences in temperate amphibians. This will involve field and laboratory work with local frog, toad, and salamander embryos to examine their responses to egg and larval predators and pathogens.
Hatching is an ecologically important developmental and life history event. It changes vulnerability to predators and physical stresses, as well as resource use. Because hatching occurs during a period of rapid development, small changes in hatching stage may have dramatic effects on hatchling morphology and behavior. Eggs and young larvae often suffer high mortality, and the timing of hatching profoundly affects survival. I want to understand the developmental and physiological basis of hatching timing and hatching plasticity, the selective forces acting on hatching stage, and the evolutionary history of hatching stage variation.
Work in my lab integrates ideas and techniques from ecology, behavior, physiology, development and evolutionary biology. I welcome applications from students interested in evolutionary or mechanistic questions addressing the interplay between development, behavior and ecology, in amphibians and other organisms.
