This is the second post of a two-part series on a day in the life of a behavioral ecologist, which features the stories and research of members of Dr. Kim Rosvall’s laboratory in the Department of Biology. Click here to read the first post of the series!
In Part I of this series, I discussed how research from the Rosvall lab is shedding light on the biological processes that enable animals to respond to changes in their social environment. Specifically, some members of the Rosvall lab are studying the hormonal mechanisms that females of a local songbird species, called tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor), use to regulate same-sex aggression across breeding stages and in response to social competition. However, competition is only one of many challenges these animals face during their lives, and some members of the Rosvall lab are studying how temporarily reducing parental care affects offspring development and physiology. This research takes place during the last breeding stage, called the chick provisioning stage (see timeline below), when females are caring for their chicks.