Sheila Reynolds

Advisors: Dr. Gerald Borgia & Dr. Mike Braun

Previous Education:
B.A. Biology, Amherst College, Amherst, MA, 1999

Research Interests:
I am studying the effect of relatedness on mating behavior in the satin bowerbird. Satin bowerbirds have a polygynous mating system in which females are free to choose mates based on their preferences for courtship displays, and there is an extreme skew in male mating success. Several prominent sexual selection models suggest that male displays and female preferences have genetic bases; therefore, close relatives should share these traits. I am interested in how relatedness affects female mate choice and male display. I am estimating genetic relatedness between individual birds in a natural population using microsatellite markers, and evaluating their behavioral interactions in the context of their relatedness. In particular, I am interested in the following questions: 1) Do related females make similar mate choices? 2) Do related males have similar displays and mating success? 3) Does relatedness between males and females influence female mate choice decisions? 4) Do related males display near each other?

Location of Research:
My lab work takes place at the Laboratory of Analytical Biology (L.A.B.) at the Smithsonian Museum Support Center in Suitland, MD.
The field work for my project was conducted in Wallaby Creek, NSW, Australia.

Publications:
Reynolds, S.M., Christman, M.C., Uy, J.A.C., Patricelli, G.L., Braun, M.J., and Borgia, G. 2009. Lekking satin bowerbird males aggregate with relatives to mitigate aggression. Behavioral Ecology. 20: 410-415.

Reynolds, S. M., Dryer, K., Bollback, J., Uy, J. A. C., Patricelli, G. L,, Robson, T., Borgia, G., Braun, M. J. 2007. Behavioral paternity predicts genetic paternity in Satin Bowerbirds (Ptilonorhynchus violaceus), a species with a non-resource-based mating system. The Auk. 124: 857-867.

Funding Sources:
2007 Ann G. Wylie Dissertation Fellowship, University of Maryland
2002 Center for Biodiversity Research Grant, University of Maryland

Awards:
2008 Best Presentation, History and Sociology, Graduate Research Interaction Day
2007 Animal Behavior Society Founder's Award, Honorable mention
2006 College of Chemical and Life Sciences Travel Award
2006 Distinguished Teaching Assistant, Center for Teaching Excellence, University of Maryland
2003 National Science Foundation Research Fellowship, Honorable mention
1999 magna cum laude, Amherst College