I wrote this piece with Lauryn Benedict, PhD to draw attention to our 2020 study describing female barn swallow song for the first time, and the Grade 5-12 lesson we created from it.
To test hypotheses and predictions about patterns of autosomal and sex-linked genomic diversity and differentiation, we measured population genetic statistics within and between populations and subspecies of the barn swallow (Hirundo rustica) and performed explicit comparisons between autosomal and Z-linked genomic regions...
Diverging populations often shift patterns of signal use—a process that can contribute to reproductive isolation and speciation. Yet it is not clear why most traits gain or lose signal value during divergence. One reason this could occur is because …
Carotenoids can confer somatic and reproductive benefits, but most evidence is from captive animal experimentation or single time-point sampling. Another perhaps more informative means by which to assess physiological contributions to animal …