Why do individuals differ in how they respond to changes in their environment?
Evidence suggests that the majority of variation in reaction norms within populations is produced by variation in the environment, not genes. Thus, evolution has seemingly shaped the multidimensional reaction norm surface (GxExE) instead of the unidimensional reaction norm itself (GxE). Yet, little is known about how these multidimensional reaction norms evolve.
Further, organisms express myriad traits over their lifetime, and the environment can directly modify the co-expression of these traits. Thus, evolution may also shape the covariation of traits itself. If this is the case, then we cannot understand the evolution of plasticity from a univariate perspective.
I aim to chip away at this complexity by (1) analyzing real data using newly developed Bayesian multivariate modelling approaches and by (2) simulating data and utilizing theoretical models.
Cones AG, Schneider ER, Westneat DF. (2024) The incubation environment does not explain significant variation in heart rate plasticity among avian embryos. Journal of Experimental Biology, 227: jeb247120. https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.247120
Westneat DF, Young, RC, Cones, AG, Kucera, AC, Anacleto, A, Heidinger, BJ. (2023) "Early-life telomeres are influenced by environments acting at multiple temporal and spatial scales" Molecular Ecology, 32: 5959-5970. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.17166
Cones AG, Liebl, AL, Russell, AF. (2023) "Helpers are associated with increased nest attentiveness and more constant temperatures in chestnut-crowned babblers" Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 77. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-023-03353-3
Cones, AG, Westneat, DF. (2023) "Variation in embryonic metabolic reaction norms and the role of the environment" Physiological and Biochemical Zoology, 96: 260-271. https://doi.org/10.1086/725236.
West, AK, Xu, EM, Nelson, MD, Hart, TR, Stricker, EM, Cones, AG, Martin, GM, Strickland, K, Lambert, DL, Burman, L, Zhu, BH, Schneider, ER. (2022) "Quantitiative evaluation of tactile foraging behavior in Pekin and Muscovy ducks" Frontiers in Physiology: Avian Physiology, 13: https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2022.921657
Cones, AG, Liebl, AL, Houslay, TM, Russell, AF. (2020) "Temperature‐mediated plasticity in incubation schedules is unlikely to evolve to buffer embryos from climatic challenges in a seasonal songbird" Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 33(12): https://doi.org/10.1111/jeb.13743 (short-listed for ESEB Stearns prize 2020); (article about study published in Natural History Magazine)
Cones, AG, Crowley, PH. (2020) "Optimal maternal incubation strategies for altricial and precocial birds" Ecological Modelling, 436:109290. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2020.109290
Capp, E, Liebl, AL, Cones, AG, Russell, AF. (2017) "Advancing breeding phenology does not affect incubation schedules in chestnut-crowned babblers: Opposing effects of temperature and wind" Ecology and Evolution, 8(1) 696-705: https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.3524
Awards
2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
2017
Deutsche Research Foundation post-doctoral fellowship
AOS-SCO Travel award
ISBE Travel award
UKY Biology Morgan fellowship
UKY BIology Merit fellowship
Gertrude Flora Ribble Graduate Fellowship
€218,990
$560
$800
$12,000
$12,000
$2,000
Conference Presentations
AOS-SCO 2023
ISBE 2022
ABS 2019
ISBE 2018
SICB 2017
ASAB 2016
ISBE 2016
Talk
Talk
Talk
Talk
Poster
Poster
Poster
Incubation does not explain significant variation in metabolic plasticity among embryos
Multidimensional phenotypic plasticity: hierarchical sources of variance in the reaction norms of avian embryos
Optimizing embryonic development: a model of the incubation-foraging trade-off
More than temperature: plasticity in embryonic development in the chestnut-crowned babbler
Plasticity of embryo heart rates in the cooperative chestnut-crowned babbler
The Secret Life of the Avian Embryo: Environmental and intrinsic effects on embryo heart rate in the chestnut-crowned babbler
Plasticity of embryo heart rates in the cooperative chestnut-crowned babbler