PRESENT STUDENTS

Ian Thomson (Lab manager- Winter 2013/Present) 
Ian has been a member of the Bertram lab since 2008. He is currently acting as lab manager while Sue is away on sabatical.Please contact Ian regarding technical lab issues and this website: ian_thomson@carleton.ca

Sarah Harrison (PhD student - Fall 2010/Present) 
Many studies in behavioural ecology have identified diet as an important determinant of organism phenotype, where for instance, levels of certain nutrients or diet quantity have been found to explain some of the variation in behaviours within a species. However, very few studies have comprehensively examined how the balance of multiple nutrients in the diet affects organism phenotype. Sarah's research explores how the ratio of protein, carbohydrates, and phosphorus in the diet affects reproductive behaviors and fitness related life history traits in field crickets. Questions she is asking include: Which nutrient ratios result in attractive mating calls in males, highest egg output in females, greatest body condition, and longest survival? Do males and females differ in their nutritional requirements for optimal fitness? If, given a choice between multiple diets, do field crickets select a diet that optimizes their fitness? Do females sexually cannibalize potential mates when their diets are lacking in certain nutrients?

Genevieve Ferguson (PhD student - Fall 2011/Present) 
As humans further encroach on wild habitats we become responsible for understanding how our footprint affects the animals inhabiting these areas. Current research documents many instances of adaptive responses by animals to human occupancy.  Genevieve’s current research interests focus on the interactions and consequences of human habitation to animal behaviour, especially acoustic communication and adult mating behaviour and how this relates to sexual selection pressures. Additionally, as much of adult behaviour is dependent on developmental environment, she is also interested in changes that occur within the acoustic rearing environment, and how these changes alter adult mating behaviour. Genevieve’s Ph.D. project will examine (1) differences between lab reared and wild caught Gryllus pennsylvanicus populations and the necessity of breaking diapause in lab-reared colonies; (2) how acoustic rearing environment affects later adult mating behaviour (in both males and females) in two local field cricket species, Gryllus pennsylvanicus and Gryllus veletis; and (3) if and how these species are affected by anthropogenic noise throughout different life periods.  

Karen Pacheco (MSc student - Fall 2011/Present) 
Male crickets produce acoustic calls to attract female mates. But how and what is it exactly about these calls that attract females? These calls can be broken down in various parameters such as chirp rate, pulses per chirp, frequency and amplitude. Relatively little is known about how these parameters interact and are processed by the female to ultimately make her final mating decision. In order to fully quantify female preference functions (likelihood a female will mate along a range of trait values) Karen’s research aims to examine these parameters in greater detail. She hopes to determine if females prioritize between parameters, individually and in combination, and ultimately understand the multivariate hierarchy existing in female mate preference. The shape of preference functions has implications for mate recognition, sexual selection, speciation and animal communication. Karen is interested in determining the degree to which female choice contributes to the evolution of signalling and inform future research on acoustic communication and mate choice.

PAST LAB MEMBERS

Graduate Students

Ian Thomson, MSc (2010-2012) 
Ian received his undergraduate degree from Carleton University. His MSc research was on: "Variation in cricket acoustic signaling explained by body morphology, energy stores, and muscle enzymes".

Undergraduate Students

Honours Thesis Students

Research Assistants