Mapping parental behaviors to genotypes in stickleback fish

It would be challenging to find someone who became interested in animal behavior at a younger age than Colby Behrens, a current PhD candidate in the Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior department. Growing up on a dairy farm in northeast Iowa, Behrens says he learned early on the importance of understanding the behavioral cues of animals.

Animals can influence their offspring through multiple signals starting from fertilization to after birth. However, researchers have seldom looked at how these different signals work together to influence behavior. In a new study, postdoctoral researcher Jennifer Hellmann in the Bell lab investigated how changes in sperm and paternal care influence the offspring of threespine sticklebacks.