Current Member - Suzanne Alonzo

Suzanne Alonzo

Details

Name: Suzanne Alonzo
Position: Visitor
Email: suzanne.alonzo@yale.edu

Autobiography

I studied biology at the University of California Berkeley followed by a PhD at the University of California Santa Barbara with Robert Warner. For my postdoctoral fellowship, I worked with Marc Mangel at the University of California Santa Cruz where I also spent three years as a research scientist in the Institute of Marine Sciences. I moved to Yale University in 2004 where I am currently an assistant professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.

Research Activities

A behavioural and evolutionary ecologist by training, I am interested more generally in the intersection of evolution and ecology and the connection between data and theory. I use a combination of mathematical models and empirical data to determine how interactions within and between groups of individuals affect evolutionary and ecological dynamics at higher levels. My research focuses on the evolution and ecology of reproductive traits. However, I have studied variety of topics including sexual selection, alternative reproductive patterns, mating systems, fisheries management and predator-prey interactions. I do field work in Corsica (on the ocellated wrasse, Symphodus ocellatus) and in Connecticut (on a freshwater stream fish, the tessellated darter, Etheostoma olmstedi) and use phenotypic and genetic modelling approaches to understand the evolution and ecology of reproduction. I have recently been developing modelling methods to examine the coevolutionary of multiple male and female reproductive traits simultaneously. I am collaborating with Dr. Tom Pizzari at the Edward Gray Institute to develop coevolutionary theory examining male sperm allocation patterns and female choice among males. These general models will also guide future research on sperm competition and female choice in our study species

I have been awarded a Junior Faculty Fellowship from Yale for a sabbatical this academic year (2007-2008). During my sabbatical, I am spending the Michaelmas term at Oxford visiting the EGI and Department of Zoology while a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at Jesus College and through a Royal Society Short Visit Grant awarded to Dr. Tom Pizzari at the EGI. I am currently on the Editorial Advisory Board for Ecology, Encyclopedia of Life Sciences and a Faculty of 1000 Contributor in Behavioral Ecology.

For more information about my work, please visit my Yale webpage

Selected Recent Papers

Alonzo S.H. 2004. Uncertainty in territory quality affects the benefits of usurpation. Behavioral Ecology 15, 278-285. | Read abstract/paper online

Sinervo, B., Chaine, A., Clobert, J., Calsbeek, R., Hazard, L., Lancaster, L., McAdam, A.G., Alonzo, S., Corrigan, G. & Hochberg, M.E. 2006. Self-recognition, colour signals, and genetic cycles of greenbeard mutualism and true altruism. PNAS 103, 7372-7377. | Read abstract/paper online

Alonzo S.H. 2007. Conflict between the sexes and cooperation within a sex can alter classic predictions of mating systems theory. Evolutionary Ecology Research 9, 145-156.

Alonzo S.H. & Sinervo, B. 2007. Sex ratio allocation and mate choice games in the side-blotched lizard. Evolutionary Ecology Research, in press