Celebration is in order for a group of students from the 2017 Summer Research Experiences (SRE) for Undergraduates Program whose research has been published this month in Population Ecology.
The paper, “Space, density and extra‐pair matings have opposing impacts on male and female reproductive success,” analyzed the role of spatial configuration on the reproductive success of territorial species. The study found that sexual conflict between male and female breeders emerged when considering the effects of space on territorial breeders. The findings could have important implications for conservation and the role of mating dynamics in fragmented breeding habitats.
The paper’s lead author is Brian A. Lerch, who at the time of the SRE was a student at Case Western Reserve University. He is now completing a Ph.D. in biology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
The other SRE authors are Kimberly A. Dautel, Sharee Brewer, and Alan Liang.
Dautel is completing a Ph.D. in mathematical modeling at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT).
Brewer is completing a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree at the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine.
Liang is a student in computer science at Cornell University.
SRE mentors and co-authors on the paper are former NIMBioS postdoctoral fellows Nourridine Siewe and Sarah Flanagan. Siewe is currently a postdoctoral research associate in computer science at the University of British Columbia and in the fall will join the faculty at RIT’s School of Mathematical Sciences. Flanagan is a Lecturer in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand.
Congratulations, team!
Citation: Lerch BA, Dautel KA, Brewer S, Liang A, Siewe N, Flanagan S. 2020. Space, density and extra‐pair matings have opposing impacts on male and female reproductive success. Population Ecology.