Tinghitella, Robin - University of Denver - Department of Biological Sciences

个人简介

2002 - BS Biology - University of Portland 2008 - PhD Biology - University of California-Riverside

研究领域

For most of the last century and a half, evolution was assumed to happen over large time scales, but more recently attention has been given to cases of very rapid adaptive evolution in natural populations. My work centers on the roles of ecology and behavior in rapid evolution. I work with real organisms in their real habitats, and also use laboratory experimentation, phylogenetics, and hormone analyses to understand the forces that shape diversity in animal communication and social systems. These questions are particularly timely because rampant anthropogenic influences, ranging from unintentional introductions to harvesting and climate change, challenge organisms by changing the ecosystems in which they live. How are these changes accommodated on contemporary timescales? I focus my attention on interactions between the sexes, endeavoring to understand the origin and maintenance of variation in sexual signaling and mate choice. Most research on sexual selection emphasizes the exaggeration of male signals and very strong female preferences for those signals. Both of these should reduce diversity in sexual signaling systems resulting in one biggest, best male signal. Yet, mating signals are extremely diverse. We are challenged, then, to explain the origin and maintenance of variation in these systems. Within the broad framework of behavior and rapid evolution, I address three areas: 1) The manner in which opposing selection pressures, ecology and non-adaptive processes shape animal communication systems, 2) The paradoxical loss of sexual signals, and 3) Implications of behavioral variation, including plasticity, for rapid evolutionary change, including speciation and population extinction.

近期论文

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22. Minter, R.*, Keagy, J., Tinghitella, R.M. In Press. The relationship between male sexual signals, cognitive performance, and mating success in stickleback fish. Ecology and Evolution. 21. Lehto, W.R.*, Murphy, S.M., Vidal, M.C.*, Tinghitella, R.M. In Press. Life Tables, Darwin's Finches, and the Dynamics of Small Island Populations. National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science (NCCSTS). 20. Vidal, M.C.*, Grenis, K.*, Lehto, W.R.*, Tinghitella, R.M., and Murphy, S.M. In Press. Butterfly hunt: the role of density dependence in Batesian and Mullerian mimicry. National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science (NCCSTS). 19. Grenis, K.*, Lehto, W.R.*, Murphy, S.M., Vidal, M.C.*, Tinghitella, R.M. In Press. Animals on treadmills: critical thinking and public perception of science. National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science (NCCSTS). 18. Lierheimer, V.F.** and Tinghitella, R.M. 2017. Quantity and quality of available mates alters female responsiveness but not investment in the Pacific field cricket, Teleogryllus oceanicus. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. 71: 80. DOI 10.1007/s00265-017-2298-0 17. Murphy, S.M., Battocletti, A.H., Tinghitella, R.M., Wimp, G.M., Ries, L. 2016. Complex community and evolutionary responses to habitat fragmentation and habitat edges: what can we learn from insect science? Current Opinions in Insect Science. 14:61-65. 16. Weigel, E.G.*, Tinghitella, R.M., Boughman, J.W. 2016. No evidence for variation in reproductive investment under alternative mate availability regimes. J. Fish Biology. 88:508-522. 15. Tinghitella, R.M., Stehle, C.**, Boughman, J.W. 2015. Females sample more males at high nesting densities, but ultimately obtain less attractive mates. BMC Evolutionary Biology. 15:200. 14. Tinghitella, R.M., Lehto, W.R.*, Minter, R.* 2015. The evolutionary loss of a badge of status alters male competition in the threespine stickleback. Behavioral Ecology. 26: 609-616. 13. Tinghitella, R.M. 2014. Male and female crickets modulate courtship behaviour depending on females’ experience with mate availability. Animal Behaviour. 91: 9-15. 12. Tinghitella, R.M., Weigel, E.G.*, Head, M., Boughman, J.W. 2013. Flexible mate choice when mates are rare and time is short. Ecology and Evolution. 3(9): 2820-2831. 11. Tinghitella, R.M., Zuk, M., Beveridge, M., Simmons, L.W. 2011. Island hopping introduces Polynesian field crickets to novel environments, genetic bottlenecks, and rapid evolution. J. Evolutionary Biology. 24(6): 1199-1211. 10. Tibbetts, E.A., Izzo, A.*, Tinghitella, R.M. 2011. Juvenile hormone titer and advertised quality are associated with timing of early spring activity in Polistes dominulus foundresses. Insectes Sociaux. 58: 473-478. 9. Simmons, L.W., Tinghitella, R.M. & Zuk, M. 2010. Quantitative genetic variation in courtship song, and its covariation with immune function and sperm quality in the field cricket Teleogryllus oceanicus. Behavioral Ecology 21(6): 1330-1336. 8. Fullard, J.H., ter Hofstede, H.M., Ratcliffe, J.M., Pollack, G.S., Brigidi, G.S., Tinghitella, R.M., & Zuk, M. 2010. Release from bats: genetic distance and sensoribehavioural regression in the Pacific field cricket, Teleogryllus oceanicus. Naturwissenschaften. 97: 53-61. 7. Tinghitella, R.M. & Zuk, M. 2009. Asymmetric mating preferences accommodated the rapid evolutionary loss of a sexual signal. Evolution. 63: 2087-2098. 6. Tinghitella, R.M., Wang, J.M.** & Zuk, M. 2009. Pre-existing behavior renders a mutation adaptive: flexibility in male phonotaxis and the loss of singing ability in the cricket Teleogryllus oceanicus. Behavioral Ecology. 20: 722-728. 5. Zuk, M. & Tinghitella, R.M. 2008. Rapid evolution and sexual signals. In: Sociobiology of Communication: an interdisciplinary perspective. Eds: P d’Ettorre & D.P. Hughes. Oxford University Press. 4. Tinghitella, R.M. 2008. Rapid evolutionary change in a sexual signal: Genetic control of the mutation “flatwing” that renders male field crickets (Teleogryllus oceanicus) mute. Heredity. 100: 261-267. 3. Ayoub, N.A., Garb, J.E., Tinghitella, R.M., Colin, M.A. & Hayashi, C.Y. 2007 Blueprint for a high-performance biomaterial: Full-length spider dragline silk genes. PLoS ONE. 2(6): e514. 2. Zuk, M., Gershman, S.N., Lesser, K.J., Panhuis, T.M., Schmidt, T., & Tinghitella, R.M. 2006. Book Review: Sexual Conflict: Monographs in Behavior and Ecology (by Arnqvist, R. & Rowe, L.) Q. Review of Biology. 81: 204-205. 1. Zuk, M., Rotenberry, J.T. & Tinghitella, R.M. 2006. Silent Night: Adaptive disappearance of a sexual signal in a parasitized population of field crickets. Biology Letters. 2: 521-524.