About me

I am a behavioral ecologist studying how animals are shaped by their environments. I am currently a postdoctoral researcher in Vladimir Pravosudov’s lab at the University of Nevada Reno where I’m studying how environmental variation influences natural selection of spatial cognitive abilities and how spatial cognitive ability influences mate choice decisions. I obtained my PhD from Cornell University where I studied how abiotic and social environments influence behavior and ornamentation in Red-backed Fairywrens, a small Australian songbird. I’m continuing my research on fairywrens through a citizen science project (now in its 6th year!) called the Fairywren Project. Through the Fairywren Project my collaborators and I are studying environmental influences on sexual signal variation and social behavior on a continental scale. Read more about my research here.

Contact: jwelklin@gmail.com