Our Lab
The goal of the Elias Lab is to understand the mechanisms that guide behavior and how these mechanisms relate to behavioral adaptation. We use a variety of systems and tools to investigate how animals produce and process complex stimuli, the interplay between physics, behavior, and sexual selection.
Recent Publications
New collaborative study with the Bensmaia lab published on surface waves and the physiology of touch receptors in primate skin in PLos One.
New paper published in the Biological Journal of the Linnean Society on courtship behavior in jumping spiders. See video clips of Coecatus group displays
New chapter on "Dynamic Population Structure and the Evolution of Spider Mating Systems" published in Advances in Insect Physiology
New paper published in PLoS One on multimodal courtship behavior in the peacock spider, Maratus volans. See video clip of peacock spider display.
New collaborative study published on novel song production mechanism (aeroelastic flutter) in hummingbirds in Science. Press (1, 2, 3, 4) and video clip about publication
New paper published on the role of resource ownership and contests in Behavioral Ecology.
The new book “Spider Behaviour: Flexibility & Versatility” (M. Herberstein, ed) is now available from Cambridge University Press
News
Congratualtions to Chrissy Rivera for receiving a UC Berkeley Graduate Division Summer Grant and Maddie Girard for receiving an Animal Behavior Student Research Grant!
Maddie Girard has just been awarded "Best Paper of 2011" for her publication on "Recruitment-dance signals draw larger audiences when honey bee colonies have multiple patrilines" in Insectes Sociaux. Congratulations Maddie!
New lab members starting Fall 2011. Graduate student Chrissy Rivera and Post-doctoral fellow J. Patrick Kelley (funded by a generous grant from the Hellman Foundation)!
Dirty Dancing: Click here for a NPR blog post on jumping spiders featuring the Elias Lab.
Maddie Girard has been awarded a prestigious National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship award. Congratulations!!!!
Stealth percussionists of the animal world: Click here for Scientific American news article on vibrational communication featuring the Elias Lab.
Maddie Girard has been awarded an NSF EAPSI award to work in Australia to collaborate with Dr. Rob Brooks at the University of New South Wales and Dr. Mariella Herberstein at Macquarie University!
Click here for a short video on the hidden world of spiders.
