Biography

Michael completed a Bachelor degree in Biology at the University of North Carolina, where he first began his studies of frog communication. After brief research stays at the University of Louisville and the University of Texas, he received his Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from the University of Missouri in 2011. He was a postdoctoral associate at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Humboldt University in Berlin before taking up his current position as Senior Postdoctoral Researcher at University College Cork.

Since January 2019, Michael is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Integrative Biology at Oklahoma State University.

Research Interests

Michael is interested in the evolution of animal behaviours. Most of his previous research examined the evolution of acoustic communication behaviour in frogs and insects. He is particularly interested in the effects of the physical and social environment on behavioural plasticity in relation to aggression, signalling competition and female preferences. At UCC, he will be working as a Senior Postdoc under a project led by Prof. John Quinn examining the evolutionary ecology of cognition in wild great tits. For this project, he is particularly interested in how variation in cognition relates to variation in sexual signalling.

Publications

1. Reichert, M.S. & Quinn, J.L. 2017. Cognition in Contests: Mechanisms, Ecology, and Evolution. Trends in Ecology & Evolution. doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2017.07.003.
2. Kilmer, J.T., Fowler-Finn, K.D., Gray, D.A., Höbel, G., Rebar, D., Reichert, M.S. and Rodríguez, R.L. 2017. Describing mate preference functions and other function-valued traits. J. Evol. Biol.. doi:10.1111/jeb.13122.
3. Reichert, M.S., Finck, J. and Ronacher, B. 2017. Exploring the hidden landscape of female preferences for complex signals. Evolution, 71: 1009–1024. doi:10.1111/evo.13202.
4. Reichert, M.S. & Höbel, G. 2017. Frequency-channel dependent selectivity for temporal call characteristics in gray treefrogs, Hyla versicolor. Journal of Experimental Biology: doi: 10.1242/jeb.152330.
5. Reichert, M.S., Symes, L.B. & Höbel, G. 2016. Lighting up sound preferences: cross-modal influences on the precedence effect in treefrogs. Animal Behaviour, 119: 151-159.
   
6. M.A. Bee, M.S. Reichert and J. Tumulty. 2016. Assessment and Recognition of Rivals in Anuran Contests. Science Direct. In Press.
7. M.S. Reichert and G. Höbel. 2015. Modality interactions alter the shape of acoustic mate preference functions in gray treefrogs. Evolution 69: 2384-2398
8. M.S. Reichert and B. Ronacher. 2015. Noise affects the shape of female preference functions for acoustic signals. Evolution 69: 381-394
9. M.S. Reichert. 2015. Effects of noise on sound localization in male grasshoppers, Chorthippus biguttulus. Animal Behaviour 103: 125-135
10. M.S. Reichert and H.C. Gerhardt. 2014. Behavioral strategies and signaling in interspecific aggressive interactions in gray treefrogs. Behavioral Ecology 25: 520-530
11. M.S. Reichert. 2014. Playback tests and studies of animal contest dynamics: concepts and an example in the gray treefrog. Behavioral Ecology 25: 591-603
12. M.S. Reichert and H.C. Gerhardt. 2013. Socially-mediated plasticity in call timing in the gray treefrog, Hyla versicolor. Behavioral Ecology 24: 393-401
13. M.S. Reichert and H.C. Gerhardt. 2012. Trade-offs and upper limits to signal performance during close-range vocal competition in gray treefrogs, Hyla versicolor. The American Naturalist 180: 425-437
14. M.S. Reichert and H.C. Gerhardt. 2011. The role of body size on the outcome, escalation and duration of contests in the grey treefrog, Hyla versicolor. Animal Behaviour 82: 1357-1366
15. M.S. Reichert. 2011. Aggressive calls improve leading callers’ attractiveness in the treefrog Dendropsophus ebraccatus. Behavioral Ecology 22: 951-959
16. M.S. Reichert. 2010. Aggressive thresholds in Dendropsophus ebraccatus: Habituation and sensitization to different call types. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 64:529-539