“Understanding Population Divergence in Seasonal Sympatry via Behavior and Physiology of the Understudied Sex”
Abby Kimmitt is a Ph.D. Candidate at Indiana University, Bloomington, in the Ketterson lab.
Her research focuses on the role of reproductive timing and sexual selection in population divergence of migratory birds. In her study species, the dark-eyed junco, there are closely related but morphologically distinguishable populations that live in sympatry during winter and early spring, but are allopatric during breeding after migrants depart for separate breeding ranges. These instances provide an extraordinary opportunity to study mechanisms associated with mate choice and reproductive development during early spring when the migrants and residents are responding differently to the same environment with some preparing to migrate and some preparing to breed. In this seminar, she will talk about two pieces of the puzzle: female reproductive timing and male mate choice.