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!
Phil Trans special issue on culture conservation! - includes our open access paper using long-term baboon, dolphin & elephant networks to uncover the role of conservation interventions in protecting critical individuals in group-living animals. The article was featured on the cover the theme issue, “‘Animal culture: conservation in a changing world’” and covered in popular news piece by Science magazine.
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Jada Wahl wins a Barry Goldwater Scholarship, one of the most prestigious national undergraduate scholarships in STEM, to puruse research in our social mammal lab!
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CNN, The Guardian, Cosmos, Mercury News, VICE, Yale E360, BBC News, NPR, WWDTM, The Telegraph, USA Today, IFL Science, LA Times, SF Gate, San Francisco Chronicle, KQED, WQQW News 18, Washington Post, Smithsonian & more on squirrel paper & YouTube video!
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Blugold & team squirrel alumna, Alyssa Corder, blogs about her recent experiences as a Pollinator Conservation and Outreach Intern at the MN-WI Ecological Services
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Soon to be Dr. Erin Person published our research with Eileen Lacey on space use and social networks in California ground squirrels at Animal Behaviour!
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Tia Ravara gave an outstanding oral presentation on, "Vole hunting: First video and photographic evidence of novel predatory and carnivorous behavior by California ground squirrels" at the McNair Research Summit: UW-Superior.
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Network indicators of cultural resilience to anthropogenic removals in animal societies - using long-term data on baboons, dolphins, & elephants - forthcoming issue – Animal Culture: Conservation in a Changing World (personal copy)
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Dr. Sonja Wild named this year's postdoctoral recipient of the Guy N. Cameron Rodent Research Award from the American Society of Mammalogists for her research on social learning pathways and strategies in California ground squirrels!
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Leader-Telegram Newspaper, Wisconsin Public Radio, & UWEC News report on Team Squirrel's ongoing collaboration in field research with University of California-Davis
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New KD grant in Ecology to fund climate change research with Frank Rosell on his long-term Norwegian Beaver Project via LEEB! at the University of Southern Norway
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Diversity Mentoring Grants! - Morgan Aldana, Jada Wahl, Tia Ravara, Mackenzie Miner & Grace Wainwright for representation & 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 publication by Erin Person on ground squirrel microbial diversity - w. 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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