2022 Fall Seminar Series Presents

Dr. Ummat Somjee

Earl S. Tupper Fellow, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panamà
Stengl-Wyer Scholar, University of Texas, Austin, Texas

WHEN: Sept. 9,2022 at Noon
WHERE:   Seminar will be presented via Zoom

Please email jacki.craig@ucdenver.edu to receive the Zoom Meeting Link. Requests can be submitted any time before the Seminar but not after 10:00am the day of the seminar.

Energetics and the evolution of exaggerated sexually selected traits

Elephant tusks, deer antlers, beetle horns, and the elaborate plumage of many birds are all shaped by sexual selection. All these traits are fueled by metabolic energy, yet the energetic cost of maintaining, growing and supporting these traits does not scale 1:1 with body size. The persistence of exaggerated traits was a major puzzle for Darwin, yet the costs of these traits have been surprisingly difficult to document even with recent technological advances. How can size-dependent energetic processes shape the evolution of exaggeration? I examine insects with extreme sexually selected traits to understand the relative roles that physiology, selection and energetics play in shaping the evolution of exaggeration. An energetic perspective allows us to link morphology, behavior and life-history which are selected in concert with exaggerated structures. I find that many animals use ‘physiological tricks’ to reduce the costs of these exaggerated structures; understanding maintenance costs and the energetic investment in reproduction between the sexes may deepen our understanding of the evolution of exaggeration. 

Everyone is welcome to join the seminar, please email jacki.craig@ucdenver.edu to receive the Zoom link. Requests can be submitted any time before the seminar but not after 10:00am the day of the seminar.