Faculty

Michael Greenfield - Behavioral Ecology, animalcommunication and sensory ecology
Professor
Ph.D., University of Wisconsin, Madison
Phone: (785) 864-7366
Fax: (785) 864-5321

Personal Website

Classes Taught

Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology
Animal Communication and Sensory Biology
Human Biogeography

Awards

Fellow, Animal Behavior Society, (elected 2002)

Area of Interest and Research

I am a behavioral and evolutionary biologist with specific interests in sexual selection and animal communication. In recent years, most of my research has focused on problems in acoustic signaling in insects (Orthoptera and Lepidoptera) and frogs. These studies have involved both laboratory and field experimentation and addressed physiological as well as evolutionary issues. Three areas that I am currently investigating are:

1) Function and evolution of chorusing interactions in acoustic Orthoptera and Anura.
We are studying synchronous and antiphonal (alternating) singing in advertising males and its relationship to female choice. In a variety of acoustic species, e.g. the Mediterranean katydid Ephippiger ephippiger, females prefer leading songs (a psychoacoustic effect known as precedence), and such preferences may select for song timing mechanisms by which males avoid producing following songs and thereby improve their attractiveness. When two or more males use these mechanisms, a synchronous or antiphonal chorus may result as an epiphenomenon. Research addresses the neuroethological basis of the precedence effect in (female) receivers, the evolution of this effect, and the various ways it has influenced male signaling behavior.

2) Maintenance of genetic variation in sexually selected traits.
We are studying pleiotropic effects of genes that influence sexual attractiveness, using the ultrasonic moth Achroia grisella (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) as our study animal. In this species males attract females with an ultrasonic advertisement song. Males vary considerably in several song characters and in overall attractiveness, but genetic trade-offs may occur between sexual attractiveness and development rate. Moreover, genotype x environment interactions occur and may influence the above trade-offs. Research addresses the genetic architecture of loci affecting these traits and ecological genetic factors that may contribute to maintaining the observed variation.

3) The evolution of sexual advertisement signals and preferences from ancestral anti-predatory traits.
Ancestors of Achroia grisella (see no. 2, above) evolved ultrasonic hearing and evasive responses to the (ultrasonic) echolocations of predatory bats. We are studying how male song and female orientation toward this ultrasonic advertisement subsequently evolved in A. grisella. That is, can a receiver bias mechanism influence signal evolution when that bias elicits negative responses?

Representative Publications

area 1

Greenfield, M.D. and I. Roizen. 1993. Katydid synchronous chorusing is an evolutionarily stable outcome of female choice. Nature 364: 618-620.

Greenfield, M.D., M.K. Tourtellot, and W.A. Snedden. 1997. Precedence effects and the evolution of chorusing. Proceedings of the Royal Society (London) B. 264: 1355-1361.

Greenfield, M.D. and A.S. Rand. 2000. Frogs have rules: selective attention algorithms regulate chorusing in Physalaemus pustulosus (Leptodactylidae). Ethology, 106: 331-347.

Greenfield, M.D. and W.A. Snedden. 2003. Selective attention and the spatio-temporal structure of orthopteran choruses. Behaviour, 140: 1-26.

area 2

Jia, F.-Y. and M.D. Greenfield. 1997. When are good genes good? Variable outcomes of female choice in wax moths. Proceedings of the Royal Society (London) B. 264: 1057-1063.

Jia, F.-Y., M.D. Greenfield, and R.D. Collins. 2000. Genetic variance of sexually selected traits in waxmoths: maintenance by genotype  environment interaction. Evolution, 54: 953-967.

Rodriguez, R.L. and M.D. Greenfield. 2003. Genetic variance and phenotypic plasticity in a component of female mate choice in an ultrasonic moth. Evolution, 57: 1304-1313.

Greenfield, M.D. and R.L. Rodriguez. 2004. Genotype × environment interaction and the reliability of mating signals. Animal Behaviour, 68: 1461-1468.

area 3

Greenfield, M.D. and T. Weber. 2000. Evolution of ultrasonic signalling in wax moths: Discrimination of ultrasonic mating calls from bat echolocation signals and the exploitation of an anti-predator receiver bias by sexual advertisement. Ethology Ecology and Evolution, 12: 259-279.

Greenfield, M.D. 2002. Signalers and Receivers: Mechanisms and Evolution of Arthropod Communication. Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K. xiii + 414 pp.

Greenfield, M.D. and M. Baker. 2003. Bat avoidance in non-aerial insects: the silence response of signaling males in an acoustic moth. Ethology, 109: 427-442.

Grieg, E.I. and M.D. Greenfield. 2004. Sexual selection and predator avoidance in an acoustic moth: discriminating females take fewer risks. Behaviour, 141: 799-815.

Graduate Students

M.A. students (Univ. of Kansas)

• Yikweon Jang, 1994, thesis: "Ultrasonic signaling and female phonotaxis in Achroia grisella (Lepidoptera, Pyralidae)"; current position: see under Ph.D. students below.
• Marc Branham, 1995, thesis: "Sexual selection in bioluminescent signaling: female choice for high male flash rates in the firefly Photinus consimilis (Coleoptera: Lampyridae)"; current position: Assistant Professor, Entomology, Univ. of Florida.

Ph.D. students (U.C.L.A.)

• Ethel M. Villalobos, 1990, dissertation: "Reproductive strategies in solitary Hymenoptera: plasticity in mating and nesting behaviors"; current position: , Instructor, College of Tropical Agriculture, University of Hawaii, Manoa.
• Guang-yu Wang, 1990, dissertation: "Dominance in territorial grasshoppers: studies of causation and development"; current position: Environmental Scientist, Santa Monica Bay Restoration Project (State of California).

Ph.D. students (Univ. of Kansas)

• Yikweon Jang, 1997, dissertation: "Evolution and genetics of mate preference in an ultrasonic pyralid moth"; current position: Research scientist, Seoul National University, Korea.
• Amy McMillan, 1998, dissertation: "Genetic differentiation in metapopulations: effects of demographic characteristics, extinction, recolonization mode, and number of colonists "; current position: Assistant Professor, Biology, SUNY College at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York.
• Feng-you Jia, 1999, dissertation: "Evolution and maintenance of sexually selected traits in the lesser wax moth"; current position: Research Assistant Professor, Kansas State Univ.
• Rafael Rodriguez S., 2002, dissertation: "Functional design in the communication system of an ultrasonic moth"; current position: Postdoctoral researcher, University of MIssouri.
• LaRoy S. E. Brandt, 2003, dissertation: "Evolutionary origin and consequences of female mate choice in an ultrasonic moth, Achroia grisella"; current position: Professor, State Fair Community College, Sedalia, Missouri

Current Graduate Students:

• Hang-Kyo Lim, dissertation topic: Pheromonal chorusing in female arctiid moths.
• Jeffrey Cole, dissertation topic: Sexual selection and speciation in Neduba katydids. Postdoctoral trainees (U.C.L.A.)

Postdocs:

• Todd E. Shelly, 1983-1985; current position: Research Scientist, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, APHIS. Postdoctoral trainees (Univ. Kansas)
• Robert L. Minckley, 1992-1994; current position: Adjunct Res. Prof., Univ. of Rochester.
• W. Andrew Snedden, 1995-2001; private business, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
• Klaus Reinhold, 1995-1997; current position: Professor, Univ. of Bielefeld, Germany.
• Anne Danielson-François, 2002-2004 ; current position : Huxley Postdoctoral Fellow, Rice Univ.