Auteur: Mark Briffa

Duncan J. Irschick, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. His research interests are in the interface among organism design, function, and ecology. Broadly, he is interested in the evolution of complex functional systems in all its facets. His research integrates micro evolutionary and macro evolutionary approaches, and?applies both experimental and descriptive approaches to understand the causes of, and ultimately the consequences of, this diversity. Mark Briffa, Ph.D. is a Lecturer in Marine Biology at the University of Plymouth in the School of Biological Sciences. His main research focuses on contest behavior, where animals compete directly against one another over ownership of a limited resource. He is particularly interested in how animals use communication to resolve conflicts of interest — this often involves « repeated signals » that are?performed in a structured way. Jeffrey Podos, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor at the University of Massachusetts in the Biology Department. His research addresses the interface of animal behavior, organism biology, and evolutionary biology. His work focuses on vocal behavior and evolution in vertebrates, especially songbirds.