Diane Cheney

Dartmouth College

Over the past three years, Diane has been closely involved with the care and maintenance of our captive anole breeding facility at Dartmouth. In the fall of 2008, Diane traveled to our field sites in The Bahamas, where she conducted immune assays to determine whether reproductive investment compromises immune function. This physiological cost of reproduction could potentially explain why reproductive females suffer such high mortality in the wild.

This page highlights several research projects conducted by undergraduates at Dartmouth College and Rutgers University.  If you are a Dartmouth student interested in conducting similar research, check out the Calsbeek Lab or contact me about research opportunities.

Michele Barrett

Rutgers University

As part of her senior honors thesis, Michele designed an experiment to determine whether food availability influences the development of sexual size dimorphism in Yarrow’s spiny lizards. Her study was recently published in the Canadian Journal of Zoology. The figure on the left shows that food restriction did not differentially influence growth in either sex. Michele’s research also led to some interesting data on adrenal steroidogenesis, which were published in General and Comparative Endocrinology and a recent book chapter.

Viktoriya Zilberman

Rutgers University

As part of her senior honors thesis, Vicky manipulated testosterone and measured its effects on growth and coloration in male Yarrow’s spiny lizards. In this species, males are larger than females and the sexes differ in coloration (figure at left). Vicky's results were published in two recent articles, one about the environmental sensitivity of growth in Functional Ecology, and another about the endocrine regulation of coloration in Journal of Experimental Zoology.

Samantha Haw

Dartmouth College

Sam has assisted with the care and maintenance of our captive anole breeding facility for several years. Sam also learned molecular genetic techniques as part of Dartmouth’s Women In Science Program (WISP).  These molecular data will help us understand the genetic structure of wild anole populations and measure male reproductive success via genetic paternity analysis.

Angela Leo

Rutgers University

As part of her senior honors thesis, Angela manipulated testosterone levels in captive fence lizards and found some very interesting results. Among other things, Angela's experiments revealed that "male-specific" coloration (bright blue ventral patches) can be induced in females when they are treated with testosterone. The image on the left shows two female fence lizards. The female on the right, treated with testosterone, exhibits blue patches that are typically present only in males. Angela’s results were published in an article in Copeia.

Elizabeth Parker

Dartmouth College

Libby recently received funding from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to study the effects of ovariectomy and estrogen replacement on female anoles. Libby is particularly interested in how the steroid hormone estradiol influences female aggression and mating behavior. Her studies will help us understand how costs of reproduction in females are mediated by hormones.