Susan Allee

My broad research interests focus on examining and interpreting behavior using an ecological and physiological approach to contribute to our knowledge and understanding of behavioral diversity.  I am particularly drawn to studying animals whose behaviors and ecology are relatively unknown and understudied.  I believe studying unique animals can contribute greatly to a world relatively dominated by ‘model’ systems that cannot possibly represent the range of diversity seen in nature.  My questions focus on how animals make decisions and how the outcome of those decisions may affect their life histories.

The aim of my master’s thesis research was to determine how male gulf toadfish, Opsanus beta, select nest sites and how those choices affected their mating success (Allee and Bennett, in prep).  Males provide parental care for the eggs and young and must attract females to their nests so they can deposit their eggs.  Nest site selection, particularly in an environment where naturally occurring structures such as pen shells have been extirpated, is an important factor in how successful a male will be at attracting a mate and raising his offspring.

My current research focuses on how the electric organ discharge (EOD) of the weakly electric knifefish Brachyhypopomus pinnicaudatus is involved in mating behaviors (mate attraction, selection, etc.).  An additional layer in my doctoral research deals with how plastic or static different EOD components are and specifically, which components contain information about an individual’s condition (=resources consumed).