Rafa Rodríguez
Professor
Biological Sciences
Education
- PhD, University of Kansas, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Entomology, 2002
- MS, University of Costa Rica, Biology, 1996
- BS, University of Costa Rica, Biology, 1991
Website
http://www.preferencefunctions.org/
Research Interests
The study of behavior reveals how animals relate to their environment, and the nature of the selection that they exert on the individuals they interact with. Descriptions of mate preferences, for instance, constitute hypotheses about the form of sexual selection. Studying the causes of variation in behavior can thus help understand the course of evolution and divergence. Examples of current research topics include:
- substrate-borne vibrational communication in insects
- causes of phenotypic plasticity in mating signals and mate preferences
- how sexual and ecological selection influence the role of communication systems in speciation
- memory and predatory behavior in web spiders
Selected Publications
Rebar, Darren, and Rodriguez Sevilla, Rafael L. “Genetic variation in social influence on mate preferences.” Proceedings of the Royal Society B 280. (2013): 20130803.
Rodriguez Sevilla, Rafael L., Boughman, Janette W., Gray, David A., Hebets, Eileen A., Höbel, Gerlinde, and Symes, Laurel B. “Diversification under sexual selection: the relative roles of mate preference strength and the degree of divergence in mate preferences.” Ecology Letters 16. (2013): 964-974.
Fowler-Finn, Kasey D., and Rodriguez Sevilla, Rafael L. “The evolution of experience–mediated plasticity in mate preferences.” Journal of Evolutionary Biology 25. (2012): 1855-1863.
Rodriguez Sevilla, Rafael L. “Grain of environment explains variation in strength of genotype × environment interaction.” Journal of Evolutionary Biology 25. (2012): 1897-1901.
Rodriguez Sevilla, Rafael L. “Trait duplication by means of sensory bias.” Behavioral Ecology 20. (2009): 1376-1381.
Rodriguez Sevilla, Rafael L., Ramaswamy, K., and Cocroft, R. B. “Evidence that female preferences have shaped male signal evolution in a clade of specialized plant–feeding insects.” Proceedings of the Royal Society B 273. (2006): 2585â2593.
Cocroft, R. B., and Rodriguez Sevilla, Rafael L. “The behavioral ecology of insect vibrational communication.” BioScience 55. (2005): 323-334.