[CS] Tuesday Public Talk

[Jean Fournier]

Public Talk
Kevin M. Pilz
Candidate for Assistant Professor of Evolution & Cognition

Tuesday, February 28th, 3:30 pm, ASH 111

Good Parents and Great Mates: Conditional Reproductive Strategies in 
Birds and Reptiles

Many models have been proposed to explain individual variation in 
behavior. Conditional strategy models provide a formal set of 
predictions for the intuitive idea that animals, in order to maximize 
fitness, adapt their behavioral tactics to their own condition or social 
status. I will discuss two specific conditional strategy models and 
tests of those models. First, I will discuss whether variation in levels 
of sex steroid hormones in avian eggs represents maternal investment. I 
show that, in the European starling (Sturnus vulgaris), females allocate 
sex steroids to eggs in positive relation to their own reproductive 
condition and that those steroids benefit chick fitness without 
increasing sibling competition. These findings are consistent with the 
conditional strategy model, and indicate that steroid allocation to eggs 
is a form of maternal investment. Second, I will discuss a new study 
system that I have developed to examine whether testosterone functions 
as an internal cue of one’s own condition and as a modulator of mating 
effort for male vertebrates. Currently, I am investigating the 
relationship between testosterone level, mating behavior, and fitness in 
small island populations of the Iberian wall lizard (Podarcis 
hispanica), which provide extraordinary opportunities to accurately 
measure lifetime reproductive success. While this research is ongoing, I 
will present initial results. In conclusion, conditional strategy models 
provide a useful and powerful formal framework for testing integrative 
hypotheses of animal behavior.

Dr. Kevin Pilz (F’90) is currently an AAAS Science and Policy Fellow at 
the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, 
Scientific and Cultural Organization). He coordinates U.S. policy on 
UNESCO science programs, including initiatives in science education, 
sustainable development, and conservation. Kevin’s research examines 
animal behavior from both ultimate and proximate perspectives, and uses 
field studies of model species to uncover general vertebrate phenomena. 
Kevin was an NSF International Research Fellow in the Department of 
Evolutionary Ecology at the National Museum of Natural Sciences in 
Spain. He earned his Ph.D. from the Department of Neurobiology and 
Behavior at Cornell University in 2003 and his B.A. from Hampshire 
College in 1994. Kevin has worked domestically and internationally on 
enhancing science education for underprivileged children, on providing 
humanitarian assistance to the poverty-stricken, and in grassroots 
lobbying. In his free time, he enjoys ultimate frisbee, Brazilian music, 
and international soccer matches.

-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jean Fournier
Administrative Assistant 
School of Cognitive Science
Hampshire College
Adele Simmons Hall
Amherst, MA 01002
413-559-5502
413-559-5438 fax