Mechanisms of Behavioral Interactions
Recently, I’ve been very interested in the mechanisms that drive the decisions to allocate energy towards social behaviors. I’m currently working in the lab exploring the genetics of parental care. During my Ph.D. I plan to delve into the functional neurogenomics of parental care in the hopes of better understanding the evolution of parental care strategies!
Evolution of Parental Care in a Pair-living Monogamous Primate (past)
I have recently been working on a project to examine the correlates of monogamous behavior and parental care in primates. Through the Reproductive Ecology Lab and Dr. A. Caccone’s Genetics Lab, we are genotyping a long-term population of Mirikiná (Aotus azarae) to find the genetic variants associated with parental care.
Collaborators: The Owl Monkey Project, Adalgisa Caccone
Mechanisms Underlying Parental Care and Behavioral Plasticity (present)
What drives an individual to be a good parent? What are the neural mechanisms driving the provisioning or protection of young? How do these mechanisms compare to those of ‘helpers’ in cooperative situations? How plastic are these mechanisms? How much can past experiences shape future behaviors? There is still a great deal to unravel and I hope to explore some of these topics in the near future.