Behavioural ecology, social networks and parasite-host interactions

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Little is known about the effects of individual behaviour on social networks, and disease flow within populations. Group-living species do not mingle randomly but have a social network (whom they associate with, the strength of associations, the number of associates they have, etc.) that can be associated with fitness and survival. My research focuses on the behavioural ecology of Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep, and other vertebrates. The objectives of my proposed research are: 1) understanding and researching individual behaviour, in particular mate choice 2) exploring how sexual differences in behaviour and ecology impact the larger social network and sex differences in exposure to and transmission of parasites and disease; 3) how parasites affect life history traits, and behavior affects parasite loads and diversity. ******I study various processes from individual decisions to their effects on entire populations. Females of many species often mate with more than one male during a breeding attempt, even though they cannot increase the number of their offspring. The prevailing hypotheses are that females should select good genes for their offspring, avoid infanticide, produce sexy sons, or get access to resources that their mates control. Females might choose mates with compatible genotypes to avoid inbreeding and increase survival in offspring. Offspring from compatible partners would be better able to resist disease and parasites. Males are expected to be less selective in their mate choice, since they can mate with multiple females, thus siring more offspring. Female bighorn sheep are no exception. Although they only have one offspring per year they typically mate with multiple males during their receptive cycle. Female sheep should thus be more choosy than males. We are exploring both male and female mate choice in a game theory model using bighorn sheep data. Some sheep leave their home range to breed elsewhere, returning after the rut. It is not clear why they leave and where they go, but it is expected that males and females have different motivations and different extents to their migrations. Males likely travel further and come into contact with more mates than females. In bighorn sheep, for example, males are more social and their groups more cohesive than female groups. As such, males that are migrating or switching between groups, could expose themselves and thus females to parasites and disease. ******My overarching research goal is to investigate to what extent, and in what ways males and females contribute to gene and disease flow within the larger population. We are exploring sex differences in parasite intensity and diversity. In some species males are the shedders and spreaders of parasites. We are researching to what degree parasites change the life history of their host, whether or not the sexes differ in their vulnerability to parasites and how these combined with behavior can affect host fitness.