Expertise

Research

  • Lizard Display Evolution
  • Zebrafish Behavioral Evolution

Professor Martins studies behavioral evolution by mapping the ancient history of lizard communication in the southwestern U.S. and by studying how sensory systems impact social behavior in the biomedically-important zebrafish. More generally, her research program asks about the evolution of complex behavioral phenotypes, and how evolutionary forces have interacted over long periods of time to shape phenotypic change.

My primary research interest is in the evolution of complex behavioral traits such as communication and social behavior.

Primarily, we strive to understand the evolutionary forces driving the evolution of communication and social behavior in lizards and fish. How do genetic and social factors interact over long periods of evolutionary time? Are major patterns of behavioral differentiation best explained by the strongest selective pressures or by those which are the most persistent, albeit sometimes weak?

Affiliations

Professor, Cognitive Science Program, College of Arts and Sciences, Indiana University Bloomington

Director, Center for the Integrative Study of Animal Behavior, Indiana University Bloomington

Communities
Biological Science, Animal Science, Neuroscience, Cognitive Science
Degrees
PhD, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Zoology, 1992
MS, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Biometry, 1991
BA, University of California, Berkeley, Zoology and Psychology, 1987
Keywords
animal behavior or ethology systematic biology biometry herpetology zoology phylogenetics evolutionary biology systematics life sciences biostatistics endangered species computational biology biological adaptation genetic models evolution terrestrial ecology
Languages
English, Portuguese, Spanish
Associations
American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists
Animal Behavior Society
Society for the Study of Evolution
Society of Systematic Biologists