Research
Current research
Biogeography of the gut microbiome of Phanaeus dung beetles
2017-present
Kimberly Sheldon Lab (the University of Tennessee, Knoxville)
What abiotic and biotic factors shape the vertically-transmitted gut microbial communities of Phanaeus vindex and P. difformis dung beetles across their ranges?
See Claire's 2019 Ecological Society of America poster on preliminary work here!
Past research
Mating cues in damselflies
2015-2016
Ola Fincke Lab (the University of Oklahoma)
Do male damselflies males use senses other than visual to detect their mates?
Because damselflies are speciose, have radiated recently, and have complex mating behaviors, damselflies are model organisms for studies of sexual selection and sexual conflict. Most of this work to date operates under the assumption that males use only visual cues to detect and identify mates. My research is the first to test this assumption in the field, finding that males do not orient to females without visual cues.
Publication: Winfrey & Fincke 2017
Prevalence of Chytrid fungus in Oklahoma amphibians
2015- 2016
Cameron Siler Lab (Sam Noble Museum of Oklahoma Natural History/ University of Oklahoma)
How prevalent is Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) among amphibians in Southern Oklahoma?
Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd, often called chytrid for short) has caused massive declines in amphibian populations worldwide. Research supports that the prevalence and lethality of Bd worldwide is on the rise, due to human-mediated spread of the fungus and warmer global temperatures, respectively. However, despite the threat of this fungus and Oklahoma's high amphibian biodiversity, only 4 isolated sites had been sampled for Bd in Oklahoma prior to this work. For this project, we sampled 14 sites across Southern Oklahoma for frogs and salamanders. All amphibian families, all sampling locations, and 15/18 species were Bd +, although locations and species differed in their pathogen loads.
Publication: Marhanka et al. 2017
Describing a new species of Philippine Slender Skink
2015- 2016
Cameron Siler Lab (Sam Noble Museum of Oklahoma Natural History/ University of Oklahoma)
Here we report the formal description of a new species of skink within the Brachymeles bonitae complex, found on Tablas Island in the Philippines.
Publication: Davis et al. 2016.