Welcome, we study social mammals! Our inclusive lab integrates evolutionary ecology, animal behavior, and physiology to understand how natural selection and current conditions shape decision-making in mammals. We combine long-term observations with field experiments, genetic and endocrine analyses, and quantitative tools (i.e., social networks, phylogenetics) to test evolutionary theory.
LAB NEWs and STUDENT SUCCESSES - Go Blugolds!
The Leader-Telegram Newspaper and UWEC News report on Team Squirrel's ongoing collaboration in field research with the University of California-Davis
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Morgan Lynn Aldana and Grace Wainwright won Diversity Mentoring Grants to increase representation and inclusion on team squirrel - Go Blugolds!
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New Proc B paper co-authored with undergraduate collaborators on sensory integration of predator cues explains the fear of a quiet coyote
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Congratulations to Tia Ravara for securing funded for our ground squirrel project from U.S. Department of Education via the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
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Smith joins Cody Ross, Paul Hooper, and Monique Borgerhoff Mulder in leading a HUGE collaborative, transdisciplinary effort to reveal patterns of, "Reproductive inequality in humans and other mammals."
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Maddie Mueller continues collaborative research @UWEC with funding from our Vicki Lord Larson and James Larson Collaborative Research on Behavioral Endocrinology
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Alyssa Corder, Tia Ravara, and Ginseng Vang all won Diversity Mentoring Grants to increase representation and inclusion on team squirrel - Go Blugolds!
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First paper with an UWEC undergrad - Maddie Mueller - "Mechanisms of equality and inequality in mammalian societies" at Phil Trans B!
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Excited to collaborate with Joseph Bump and Dani Freund of the Voyageurs Wolf Project on behavioral endocrinology of beaver and wolf predator-prey interactions.
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First team squirrel dissertation - "Fear, Fleeing, and Survival: Human impacts on ground squirrels in an urban-adjacent park." Congratulations to Dr. Chelsea Ortiz-Jimenez who is co-mentored by Andy Sih at the University of California Davis.
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First first-authored paper by Erin Person on ground squirrel microbial diversity - joined by Eileen Lacey & undergrads - Kianna von Maydell & Jada Baldoza!
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Dr. Sonja Wild started to co-lead the squirrel project in Summer 2023 after winning a Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Swiss National Science Foundation to study the effects of human presence on social network properties and learning strategies.
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