Division of Animal Behavior (DAB): 2007 Spring Newsletter
Message
from the Officers
Tom Hahn (Chair), Sarah Humfeld (Program Officer), and
Scott MacDougall-Shackleton (Secretary)
Elections!
Greetings from your DAB
executive! We've had a change and your current DAB executive is
now:
Chair: Tom Hahn
Program Officer: Sarah
Humfeld
Secretary: Scott
MacDougall-Shackleton
This year we need to
vote for Program Officer and we have two excellent nominees. Please
read the biographies below and take the time to vote. Thank you,
Sarah and Peggy for agreeing to stand for election.
Best Student
Presentations
At the 2007 meeting in
Phoenix we announced the Best Student Presentations from the 2006
Orlando meeting. They were:
Jennifer Hylton
(Best Student Oral) "Cryptic Plumage Dimorphism in Aphelocoma
Scrub-Jays: Assessing Visible and Ultraviolet Reflectance Across
Species and Subspecies"
Laura Macesic
(Best Student Poster) "Morphometrics and behavioral function of the
electric organs of Bancroft's numbfish, Narcine bancroftii"
Congratulations
Jennifer and Laura! The judges were -as always- impressed by the
consistently high quality of student presentations. We will announce
the Best Student Presentations from the 2007 meeting in the Fall
Newsletter, then make a presentation at the 2008 meeting San Antonio.
Plan to attend the annual DAB business meeting/social.
Symposia
The society is
welcoming late-breaking and mini-symposia for San Antonio. If you
would like to organize a smaller symposium but don't want to wait
until the Boston meeting this is your chance! As always we welcome
proposals for symposia and will work with you to see it successfully
through.
Have a great spring and
summer, and don't forget to vote!
~Tom, Sarah, and Scott.
DAB Election Candidates
Candidates for Program Officer
Peggy S. M. Hill
Current Position:
Associate Professor of Biological Science, University of Tulsa, OK.
Education: B.S. in
Education, University of Tulsa, 1975; B.S. in Natural Sciences,
University of Tulsa, 1977; Ph.D. in Zoology, University of Oklahoma,
1996.
Professional
Experience: Associate Professor of Biological Science, 2002-present,
Assistant Professor of Biological Science, 1996-2002, Instructor of
Biological Science, 1987-1996, University of Tulsa; Native American
Studies Program, Committee Member, 1991-2003, Academic Advisor,
1994-2000, Associate Director, 1998-2003; Classroom Teacher, 1977-87,
Booker T. Washington High School, Tulsa, Okla.
SICB Activities: Member
since 1990; Annual Meeting Session Chair/Co-chair, 1997-1999, 2001,
2004, 2007; DAB Best Student Paper Judge, 1998-2001, 2003; Symposium
Organizer, 2000, 2001; DAB Program Officer, 1998-2001; American
Zoologist Reviewer. Other Memberships: Animal Behavior Society,
International Society of Behavioral Ecologists, Sigma Xi, Society for
Conservation Biology, Kansas Entomological Society, Orthopterists'
Society.
Research Interests: I
have been working with animal behavior in both honeybees (foraging
ecology) and prairie mole crickets (airborne and vibrational
communication), and my major long-term interest is in how animals use
sensory cues to make choices in resource acquisition (foraging or
reproduction). I have been working on a book, Vibrational
Communication in Animals, for much of the two past years.
Goals Statement: My
general goal as an SICB member is to help to promote the society as a
leader in bringing focus to issues in integrative and comparative
biology through our annual symposia. My parallel goals continue to
include encouraging the participation of minorities and women in the
work of SICB, areas where great gains have been made since I joined
the Society.
Sarah Conditt
Humfeld
Current Position:
Post-Doctoral Fellow, Division of Biological Sciences, University of
Missouri-Columbia
Education: B.S.
(Biology), Trinity University, 1995; Ph.D. (Biology), University of
Missouri-Columbia, 2003.
Professional
Experience: 2004-05, Research
Technician, Division of Biological Sciences, University of
Missouri-Columbia;
2005-current,
Postdoctoral Fellow, Division of Biological Sciences, University of
Missouri-Columbia;
SICB Activities:
Program Officer of DAB, 2005-2008
Other Memberships:
Animal Behavior Society, International Society for Behavioral
Ecology.
Research Interests: I
am generally interested in acoustic communication and mating behavior
in anuran amphibians. I continue to be interested in the mating
system I studied for my dissertation (Hyla cinerea) and questions
about alternative mating tactics in males. Additionally, I have
recently expanded my interests in male phonotaxis, and begun studying
the different behavioral contexts in which these acoustic preferences
may be used by males. I am beginning to investigate the mechanistic
explanation for the observation of condition dependent call
characteristics in some species of treefrogs. Also, I am
collaborating with Dr. Carl Gerhardt at the University of Missouri to
investigate the evolution of signaling systems in the canyon
treefrog.
Goals Statement: Since
elected, I have learned a lot about how a program officer can help to
make their division an intellectually stimulating enterprise! My
goals fall along two main lines. First, DAB has not hosted a behavior
symposium for several years. I will strive to facilitate the
partnerships that are necessary to generate and host great symposium
over the next few years. This is a commitment that I have made
regardless if I am re-elected P.O. Secondly, I will work to
reinvigorate the formal and personal ties that used to exist between
DAB and the Animal Behavior Society. I believe that these two
organizations are complementary in their mission and can benefit from
interacting with each other. I am especially interested in educating
student members of ABS about the opportunities to participate in
SICB.
Website for additional
information:
http://www.biosci.missouri.edu/gerhardt/sarah.htm
Link to officer list on DAB page