Behavioral plasticity offers one mechanism through which organisms can immediately respond to changes in their environment. But why are some individuals more plastic than others? What determines the extent and direction of behavioral plasticity? EERREC REU students will study how experience with early-life stress can shape the expression of behavioral plasticity and thus an individual's ability to cope with later environmental change.

Communication plays a central role in the lives of animals, allowing them to defend territories, find mates, and coordinate with offspring and group members. To be effective, animal signals must be detectable in the acoustic, visual, vibratory, and chemical environment in which they are used. Signals may lose their efficacy if the environment changes rapidly due to industrial and urban developments, which may favor plastic responses by individual animals or rapid evolutionary change.