Yellow-bellied marmots and many other animals live and interact with each other, creating social networks. Intuitively, it is easy to understand that social connections and the emergent network structure can influence many aspects of animal social lives (including ours). However, it is often difficult to define and measure meaningful aspects of social living and their biological impacts. My dissertation work examines the biological causes (such as individual characteristics) and consequences (such as effects on reproduction, parasites, and stress) of individual variation in social network attributes. I am currently a 6th year graduate student and worked with the marmots at RMBL from 2005-08. To see more details about my graduate research projects, see my website and my UCLA departmental page.
They say that after a while you start to resemble your study organism. I like to eat and sleep a lot, spend time in the mountains, and have been known to socialize. (Photo: Tina W. Wey, taken by Rachel Chock)
No comments:
Post a Comment