Kat Shaw
Contents
Katherine Shaw, Doctoral Student
B.A./M.A. (2005) Clark University, Department of Biology
Doctoral Student (2005 - Present) University of Connecticut, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Contact Info:
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
75 North Eagleville Rd, U-43
Storrs, CT 06269
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Office: TLS 363
Voice: (860) 486-4638
Fax: (860) 486-6364
Email: katherine.shaw@uconn.edu
Advisor: Carl Schlichting
Interests:
Behavioral ecology, phenotypic plasticity, ancestral behavioral plasticity, alternative reproductive tactics, fish biology, Gasterosteid behavior
Research:
There are a number of stickleback species (Family: Gasterosteidae), many named for their number of dorsal spines (threespine, fourspine, ninespine, fifteenspine!). I've spent the last few years working with threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus L) in British Columbia and Alaska, specifically studying population differences in reproductive behavior. Marine populations of threespines invaded freshwater environments during the last glacial recession between 15,000 and 10,000 years ago. Depending on the type of aquatic habitat invaded, populations have come to differ in morphology and behavior. This is especially interesting because, not only does it tell us much about how environment affects morphology and behavior but, since the ancestral (marine) populations have changed little in the last 20,000 years, we can determine the directionality of behavior and morphological changes in the more derived, freshwater populations.
Publications:
Foster, S.A., K.A. Shaw, K.L. Robert, J. A. Baker. 2008. Benthic, limnetic and oceanic threespine stickleback: Profiles of reproductive behavior. Behaviour, in press.
Shaw, K.A., M.L. Scotti, S.A. Foster. 2007. Ancestral plasticity and the evolutionary diversification of courtship behaviour in threespine sticklebacks. Animal Behaviour 73: 415 – 422.
