Welcome to the Podos lab in the Department of Biology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Our group conducts research at the interface of animal behavior and evolutionary biology, with a particular focus on animal communication. Research projects are conducted in both field and laboratory settings, mainly (but not exclusively) using songbirds as a model system. Current study species include sparrows, swallows, chickadees, warblers, finches, and grassquits. Podos lab members are affiliated with two graduate programs, Organismal and Evolutionary Biology (OEB) and Neuroscience and Behavior (NSB).
Lab News:
-- Jesse McClure was a featured speaker at the annual conference of the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants in Warwick RI (Apr 2012).
-- Dana Moseley presented a research poster, "The effect of vocal performance on male aggressive responses in swamp sparrows (Melospiza georgiana)", at the Sigma Xi Northeast Regional conference at CUNY, Queens NY (Apr 2012). Congratulations to Dana for winning the award for best poster!
-- Jeff Podos presented research seminars at University of Maine in Orono ME, and in the Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences at UMass (Apr 2012)
-- Dana Moseley presented a research talk, "Female preferences are influenced by early experience and male vocal performance", at the Society for Integrative Biology's annual meeting in Charleston SC (Jan 2012)
-- Dave Hof presented a research seminar to faculty and students in the Departamento de Zoologia at the Universidade de Brasilia, Brazil (Dec 2011)
-- The first UMass Life Sciences Graduate Research Symposium was held and the Podos lab swept the awards -- Dana Moseley for best talk, and Jesse McClure for best poster. Congratulations to Dana & Jesse! (Nov 2011)
-- Dana Moseley presented a research seminar to the faculty and students in the Department of Biology at Central Connecticut State University in New Britian CT (Nov 2011)
-- Jesse McClure presented a poster, "Risk sensitivity as a test of impulsive choice in rats", at the Society for Neuroscience meeting in Washington DC (Nov 2011)
-- Jeff Podos presented research seminars at Randolph Macon College in Ashland VA, and Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg VA (Oct 2011)
-- Congratulations to Ben Taft for successfully defending his PhD thesis, "The role of dawn song in tree swallows and its place in the diversity of oscine song learning" (Aug 2011)
-- Podos lab members presented posters at the Joint meeting of the Animal Behavior Society and the International Ethological Congress in Bloomington Indiana: "The effect of vocal performance on male aggressive responses in swamp sparrows" (Dana Moseley); "Rapid modulation of song frequencies in response to overlapping noise" (Sarah Goodwin); "Within-island song varation in Galapagos finches: discrimination and geographical distance" (Jeff Podos) (July 2011)
-- Dave Hof has been awarded a Dissertation Improvement Grant from the National Science foundation, for his project "Aggressive Signaling and Fitness Consequences in a New World Warbler." (Jun 2011)
