Michael Reichert

My lab group studies animal communication and cognition. We take an integrative approach, looking at both mechanisms (physiology, neuroethology) and function (behavior and evolution) of these traits. We are especially interested in the effects of complex environmental characteristics on animal behaviors. We have a special focus on acoustic communication behavior in treefrogs, where we study competition and female choice and how these behaviors are modified by social competition, the energetic cost of these behaviors, and the mechanisms by which the brain processes sounds and makes decisions. We also have an interest in animal learning and have worked on wild songbirds, and on crickets in the lab, with the major question of what factors determine why individuals differ in their learning abilities. We have side projects on grasshopper communication and coloration. For more information about research in my lab, please see our lab webpage: https://reichertlab.com/