Associate Professor of Biology, Associate Dean of the Faculty for the Natural Sciences
Twitter: @BustonLab
Current Research
My lab tackles major challenges in the fields of behavioral ecology, population ecology, and evolutionary biology within the marine environment. Two main questions have commanded our attention. First, why do some individuals forgo their own reproduction and behave cooperatively in animal societies? This question has challenged behavioral ecologists and evolutionary biologists ever since Darwin pointed out the difficulties these behaviors posed for his theory of natural selection. Second, what is the probability of larval exchange, or connectivity, between populations in marine metapopulations? This question has long been a focus for marine ecologists and biological oceanographers, because the answer holds the key to understanding metapopulation dynamics and designing effective networks of marine reserves. Students in the lab have built on these foundations, developing their own related lines of research. The lab’s research combines long-term field studies with experimental manipulations, molecular genetics, and mathematical modeling. We use a hypothesis-driven approach to answer fundamental questions of behavioral ecology, population ecology, and evolutionary biology in marine systems.
Selected Student Publications
- Bennett-Smith M, Villela H, Justo M, Peinemann VN, Berumen M, Carvalho S, Garcias-Bonet N, Versteeg M, Rueger T, Peixoto R, Buston P (2025) Near complete local extinction of iconic anemonefish and their anemone hosts following a heat stress event. Nature Partner Journal, Biodiversity 4: 35
- Vizer L, Alvarado D, Bove C, Herrera M, Hughes A, Thompson K, Bogdanowicz S, Laudet V, Davies S, Buston P (2025) Plasticity associated with adoption of social roles in clown anemonefish. eLife in review
- Schlatter EL, Shaw AK, Webb CT, Buston PM (2025) Evolution of interspecific variation in marine larval dispersal kernels: the role of larval navigation ability. Oikos e11231
- Francis RK, Castro K, Thompson S, Majoris JE, Buston PM (2025) Plasticity of dispersal-related larval traits in the clown anemonefish Amphiprion percula. Ecology and Evolution 15 (8), e71967
- Branconi R, Barbasch T, Francis R, Srinivasan M, Jones G & Buston P (2020) Ecological and social constraints combine to promote the evolution of non-breeding strategies in clownfish. Nature, Communications Biology 3: 649.
- Barbasch TA, Alonzo S, Buston PM (2020) Power and punishment influence negotiations over parental care. Behavioral Ecology 31: 911-921.
- Majoris JE, Catalano K, Scolaro D, Atema J, Buston PM (2019) Ontogeny of larval swimming abilities in three species of coral reef fishes and a hypothesis for their impact on the spatial scale of dispersal. Marine Biology 166: 159.
- D’Aloia CC, Bogdanowicz SM, Francis, RK, Majoris J, Harrison RG, Buston PM (2015) Patterns, causes and consequences of marine larval dispersal. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 112: 13940-13945.
Courses Taught:
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- BI 260 Marine Biology
- BI 509 Metapopulation Ecology
- BI 511 The Ecology of Coral Reef Fishes
- BI 519 Theoretical Evolutionary Ecology
- BI 671 Survey of Ecology, Behavior, Evolution and Marine Biology