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Education:
Ph.D.
Binghamton University – State University of New York (2004)
M.S. Southwest Missouri State University (1999)
B.S. Mount Vernon Nazarene University (1997)
Courses Taught:
Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy
Human Anatomy and Physiology I & II
Animal Ecology
Research Interests:
Predation is an important
factor regulating the size and species composition of natural
communities. Prey may reduce the risk of predation through predator
avoidance, which reduces the probability of encountering a predator,
or antipredator behavior, which reduces the likelihood of a successful
predation event if a predator is encountered. Predator avoidance
mechanisms are especially advantageous to prey species since they
eliminate predator encounters altogether and thus reduce potential
injuries involved with antipredator behavior.
Prey may use a variety of cues
within their environment to assess predation risk. My research
examines how prey species use chemical cues to detect predators.
These cues may be especially advantageous because the convey information
in the dark or in turbid aquatic environments where visual cues
may be compromised. The ability of prey to detect chemical cues
in the environment is quite refined in many organisms, and some
species use chemical information about the recent diet of a predator
to modify their defensive response. For example, prey may increase
their antipredator response to individual predators that have
recently foraged on members of the same prey species.
I am interested in several aspects
of chemically-mediated predator-prey interactions: First, what
ecological factors influence the differential responses of prey
to cues from predators foraging on different prey species? Second,
are there geographic differences in the responses of a prey species
to chemical cues from predators? Third, are prey species capable
of modifying their defense response through learning from experience?
To date, my research has focused
on chemically-mediated predator-prey interactions in amphibians
and reptiles including lesser sirens, newts, red-backed salamanders
and garter snakes.
Professional Affiliations:
The Animal Behavior Society
The Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles
Related Publications:
Sullivan, A.M. & Madison, D. M. In
review. Acquired recognition of a novel chemical cue associated
with the diet of a predator by red-backed salamanders (Plethodon
cinereus) behaviour.
Sullivan, A.M., Picard, A.L. &
Madison, D.M. Accepted. To avoid or not avoid? Factors
influencing predator-diet discrimination by a terrestrial salamander.
Animal Behaviour.
Sullivan, A.M., Madison, D.M. &
Rohr, J.R. In press. The response of three plethodontid salamander
species to diet-related predator cues. Herpetologica.
Sullivan, A.M., Madison, D.M. &
Maerz, J.C. In press. Nocturnal shift in the antipredator response
to predator chemical cues: laboratory and field trials. In: Chemical
Signals in Vertebrates X. R.T. Mason, M.P. LeMaster & D. Müller-Schwarze,
eds. Kluwer / Plenum / Academic Press, New York.
Rohr, J.R., Madison, D.M. &
Sullivan, A.M. 2003. On temporal variation and conflicting selection
pressures: a test of theory using newts. Ecology, 84, 1816-1826.
Sullivan, A.M., Madison, D.M. &
Rohr, J.R. 2003. Behavioural responses by red-backed salamanders
to conspecific and heterospecific cues. Behaviour, 140, 553-564.
Madison, D.M., Sullivan, A.M.,
Maerz, J.C., McDarby, J.H. & Rohr, J.R. 2002. A complex, cross-taxon,
chemical releaser of anti-predator behavior in amphibians. Journal
of Chemical Ecology, 28, 2271-2282.
Rohr, J.R., Madison, D.M. &
Sullivan, A.M. 2002. Sex differences and seasonal trade-offs in
response to conspecific and alarm chemicals in red-spotted newts,
Notophthalmus viridescens. Behavioral Ecology Sociobiology, 52,
385-393.
Sullivan, A.M., Maerz, J.C. &
Madison, D.M. 2002. Antipredator response of red-backed salamanders
(Plethodon cinereus) to chemical cues from garter snakes (Thamnophis
sirtalis): laboratory and field experiments. Behavioral Ecology
and Sociobiology, 51, 227-233.
Sullivan, A.M., Frese, P.W. &
Mathis, A. 2000. Does the aquatic salamander, Siren intermedia,
respond to chemical cues from prey? Journal of Herpetology, 34,
609-613.
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