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Courses: Contemporary Biology (GBIO 103), Scientific
Perspectives (GSCI 104), Animal Communication (BIO 403)
Research
Interests: Animal
Behavior and Sexual Selection
I am interested in the evolution of animal
behavior, with special
interest in the process of sexual selection. My research with
treefrogs focuses on mate choice and acoustic communication.
My recent research has focused on understanding
mate sampling tactics,
i.e., how individuals gather information about potential mates.
Observations of female barking treefrogs choosing mates in natural
choruses and eight-speaker playback experiments show that females
sample 4-8 males simultaneously from a distance, and that females are
able to judge both the distance to potential mates and the amplitude
of their calls at the source. Currently, I am initiating a project
with treefrogs in Brazil.
My students have conducted research on the effect
of energy on call
rate, the effect of speaker arrangement on mate choice in playback
experiments, alternation of calling by males, the timing of
oviposition by females, the effect of call intensity on male spacing
in choruses, the mechanisms by which larger males achieve greater
mating success than smaller males, and how females use multiple male
traits to choose mates.
Selected
Publications: *undergraduate co-author
**graduate student co-author
Murphy, C. G. 2008. Assessment of distance to potential mates by
female barking treefrogs, Hyla gratiosa. Journal of Comparative
Psychology 122: 264-73.
Burke, E. M.** and C. G. Murphy. 2007. How female barking
treefrogs (Hyla gratiosa) use multiple call characteristics to select a
mate. Animal Behaviour 74: 1463-1472.
Gerhardt, H. C.., Martínez-Rivera1, C. C., Schwartz, J. J.,
Marshall, V. T. and C. G. Murphy. 2007. Preferences based on spectral
differences in acoustic signals in four species of treefrogs (Anura:
Hylidae) Journal of Experimental Biology 210: 2990-2998.
Poole, K.G.** and C. G. Murphy. 2007. Preferences of female
barking treefrogs, Hyla gratiosa, for larger males: univariate
and composite tests. Animal Behaviour 73: 513-524.
Murphy, C. G. and S. B. Floyd.* 2005. The effect of call amplitude on
male spacing in choruses of barking treefrogs (Hyla gratiosa). Animal
Behaviour 69: 419–426.
Scarlatta, J. K* and C. G. Murphy. 2003. Timing of oviposition by
female barking treefrogs (Hyla gratiosa). Journal of Herpetology. 3:
580–582.
Murphy, C. G. 2003. The cause of correlations between nightly numbers
of male and female barking treefrogs (Hyla gratiosa) attending
choruses. Behavioral Ecology 14: 274-281.
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