Department of Biology

Lab

Saltz Lab website

Research

My lab studies the evolutionary genetics of animal behaviors. Studying the evolutionary genetics of behaviors is uniquely exciting and challenging because individuals’ behaviors are not only influenced by their own genes, but also by the genes of interacting individuals.  To contribute to meeting these challenges, my lab uses ecologically-relevant behavioral analysis, quantitative genetics and genomics, and artificial evolution in a rigorous model system. Using tools available in flies (Drosophila melanogaster, and related species), we can replicate and manipulate individuals and entire social groups, within and among generations, to understand genotype-environment feedbacks in individual development, within social networks, and over generations. Our discoveries link genetic variation in preferences, experiences, and behaviors across the lifespan and over generations to produce an integrative understanding of behavior and its evolution.