The field of biology is witnessing unprecedented innovation, driven by major advancements in technologies like next-generation sequencing, gene editing, and drones. These breakthroughs are crucial for addressing pressing issues in human health and the environment.
However, despite this progress, there is a growing disconnect among students in higher education. Many perceive traditional higher education as lacking relevance, creating an existential gap. And rightly so.

Animal behavior is a key determinant of individual fitness, but also drives patterns and processes at broader ecological scales. By studying the drivers and diversity of individual behavioral strategies, we can develop a mechanistic understanding of emergent collective behavior, population dynamics, community structure, and landscape-level ecological processes. In my work, I use the antipredator behavior of African ungulates as a lens to explore the cross-scale ecological impacts of behavior.

One of the most intriguing benefits of group living is that animals may collectively tap into emergent properties to improve their decision-making abilities. This benefit likely underlies all biological collective systems, from single-celled organisms with arrays of sensors, to mixed-species flocks of migrating birds.

My research explores the dynamic and multiscale nature of animal behavior, integrating insights across scales of biological organization. In today’s seminar, I will discuss two key directions of my work.

Navigation in the open ocean has challenged humans for millennia. Nevertheless, animals around the world regularly accomplish astonishing feats of navigation. My research utilizes quantitative methods to better understand the biological mechanisms that enable such remarkable navigational feats. First, using computational modeling, I explore whether large marine animals, such as the gray whale, use the earth’s magnetic field to migrate, and describe natural sources of electromagnetic noise that can disrupt this sensory modality.