S2E10 Zuleyma Tang-Martinez on Individual Odors, Challenging Bateman's Principle, and The ABS

The Animal Behavior Podcast

In this episode, Amy speaks with guest Zuleyma Tang-Martinez, emeritus Professor of Biology at the University of Missouri - St. Louis.

They open by discussing the social function of individual odors and the potential factors driving the evolution of individual recognition systems in animals. Then, they chat about work by Zuleyma (and others) challenging Bateman's Principle, a widely accepted cornerstone of how we understand sexual selection. After the break, they discuss the importance of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) efforts within and beyond academia, how the Animal Behavior Society has changed since its founding, and what excites Zuleyma about the future of our field.

This week's Two-Minute Takeaway comes from Solimary García Hernández (@GhSolimary), a Postdoctoral Fellow at Universidade de São Paulo in Brazil. She is a behavioral ecologist especially interested in sexual selection, parental care, and defensive behaviors of arthropods. Recently, her research has focused on how and why sexual dimorphism varies among earwig populations, and how food availability affects lifetime reproductive success in harvestman. Learn more about Solimary's work here.

Papers relevant to today's show:

1. The mechanisms of kin discrimination and the evolution of kin recognition in vertebrates: a critical re-evaluation 2001 Behavioural Processes
2. Rethinking Bateman’s Principles: Challenging Persistent Myths of Sexually Reluctant Females and Promiscuous Males 2016 Annual Review of Sex Research
3. The history and impact of women in animal behaviour and the ABS: a North American perspective 2020 Animal Behaviour

Credits:

The Animal Behavior Podcast is created by a team of animal behavior researchers and audio professionals. Come meet us here! We receive production support from the Cornell Broadcast studio directed by Bert Odom-Reed, and financial support from the Animal Behavior Society.