Dr Michael Reichert

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.
  5. M.A. Bee, M.S. Reichert and J. Tumulty. 2016. Assessment and Recognition of Rivals in Anuran ContestsScience Direct. In Press.
  6. M.S. Reichert and G. Höbel. 2015. Modality interactions alter the shape of acoustic mate preference functions in gray treefrogsEvolution 69: 2384-2398
  7. M.S. Reichert and B. Ronacher. 2015. Noise affects the shape of female preference functions for acoustic signalsEvolution 69: 381-394
  8. M.S. Reichert. 2015. Effects of noise on sound localization in male grasshoppers, Chorthippus biguttulusAnimal Behaviour 103: 125-135
  9. M.S. Reichert and H.C. Gerhardt. 2014. Behavioral strategies and signaling in interspecific aggressive interactions in gray treefrogsBehavioral Ecology 25: 520-530
  10. M.S. Reichert. 2014. Playback tests and studies of animal contest dynamics: concepts and an example in the gray treefrogBehavioral Ecology 25: 591-603
  11. M.S. Reichert and H.C. Gerhardt. 2013. Socially-mediated plasticity in call timing in the gray treefrog, Hyla versicolorBehavioral Ecology 24: 393-401
  12. 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 versicolorThe American Naturalist 180: 425-437
  13. 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 versicolorAnimal Behaviour 82: 1357-1366
  14. M.S. Reichert. 2011. Aggressive calls improve leading callers’ attractiveness in the treefrog Dendropsophus ebraccatusBehavioral Ecology 22: 951-959
  15. M.S. Reichert. 2010. Aggressive thresholds in Dendropsophus ebraccatus: Habituation and sensitization to different call typesBehavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 64:529-539

Contact

Name:

Michael Reichert

Contact Details:

Position:

Post Doctoral Researcher

Category:

Past Members

UCC Ornithology Research Group

School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, UCC North Mall Campus, North Mall, Cork City,

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