Patrick Ross
Research Interests

My general research interests are in the fields of behavioral ecology, evolutionary ecology, and conservation biology. I also act as a professional consultant in the areas of experimental design and statistical analysis. My specific research is in the area of sexual selection and mate choice. Currently, I am in the process of constructing a laboratory for examining questions about mating behavior and mate choice in the guppy, Poecilia reticulata, and the soldier beetle, Chauliognathus pennsylvanicus.  In addition to my own research projects, I act as a research mentor for undergraduate research projects.  

A male and female guppy	A pair of mating soldier beetles

 

Supervised Undergraduate Research Projects (Buttons link to abstracts)

Copeland, Rachel. 2002.  The Effects of Plant Derived Smoke on Growth of Big Bluestem (Andropogon gerardii).
Mages, Paul.  2001. The effects of prior mating experience on mate choice in female guppies, Poecilia reticulata.
Harding, Maren. 2001. Soil characteristics associated with the cottonflower, Gossypianthus lanuginosus.
Brass, Jessie. 1999. The effects of facial fluctuating asymmetry on sexual selectivity in male Homo sapiens.
Papon, Shawn. 1999. Habitat preferences of sandpipers (Scolopacidae) at Slate Creek Salt Marsh.

Publications (Buttons link to abstracts)

Reznick, D.N., M.J. Butler IV, F.H. Rodd, and P. Ross. 1996. Life-history evolution in guppies (Poecilia reticulata) VI. Differential mortality as a mechanism for natural selection. Evolution 50: 1651-60.

Tanowitz, B.D., G. Leeder, P.N. Ross, and P. Proksch. 1987. Foliar flavonoid exudates and sectional taxonomy of Hemizonia. Biochemical Systematics and Ecology 15: 535-540.

Selected Papers and Presentations (Buttons link to abstracts)

Nonrandom mating based on mating history, body size, and symmetry in a population of soldier beetles, Chauliognathus pennsylvanicus. Annual Meeting of the Animal Behavior Society. 1997. (With D. Hemman, J. Tucker, and S. Russell)

A Resolution of the Contradictory Effects of Male Density on Male Courtship Behavior in the Guppy, Poecilia reticulata: The Importance of Experiential Effects. Thirty-First Annual Meeting of the Animal Behavior Society. 1994.

Terrain use and movement of relocated tortoises: Feasibility of relocating tortoises as a successful mitigation tool. Eighteenth Annual Meeting and Symposium of the Desert Tortoise Council. 1993. (With T. Mullen)

Energetic constraints on courtship behavior in Poecilia reticulata males. Fourth Congress of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology. 1992.

Age-specific courtship behavior in male guppies, Poecilia reticulata. Twenty-Ninth Annual Meeting of the Animal Behavior Society. 1992.

The function of courtship behavior in male guppies (Poecilia reticulata): Effects of female receptivity and male density. Eighth Biennial Conference on the Ecological and Evolutionary Ethology of Fishes. 1992.

Variation in sexual receptivity of Poecilia reticulata females: Effects of male courtship. Sixty-Ninth Annual Meeting of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists. 1989.