205 Tucker Hall
Division of Biological Sciences
University of Missouri
Columbia, MO 65211
phone: (573) 882-4189
fax: (573) 882-0123
jahtf7@mail.missouri.edu
Research
CV [pdf]
Teaching
Links
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My primary research interests are:
1) How animals acquire and share information.
2) Evolutionary and ecological consequences of individual behavior.
3) The influence of community interactions on individual decision-making.
I use manipulative field and laboratory experiments to understand the causes and effects
of individual behavior with a focus on communication.
My Ph.D. study system consists of two closely related species of insects:
oak treehoppers (Platycotis vittata) (right) and thornbugs (Umbonia crassicornis) (bottom).
In both species, mothers guard sedentary offspring aggregations on plants. Mothers and offspring produce
vibrational signals during and/or subsequent to predator encounters. Offspring signals function in
soliciting maternal defense in U. crassicornis.
My dissertation focuses on the functions of maternal signals in both species, the functions
of offspring signals in P. vittata, and the response of several types of invertebrate predators
to familial communication.
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| curriculum vitae & publications |
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click [here] for a pdf of my CV
Publications:
Hamel, JA and Cocroft, RB. (Submitted.) Parental signals communicate decreased risk and modify collective signaling behavior of offspring in a group-living insect.
Hamel, JA and Golden, T. (In prep.) Alone against a crowd: Maternal defense against social predators in a treehopper.
Cocroft, RB and Hamel, JA. (2010) Vibrational communication in the "other" social insects: a diversity of ecology, signals, and signal functions. In: The Use of Vibrations in Communication: properties, mechanisms and function across taxa. Ed. C. E. O'Connell-Rodwell, Research Signpost.
Hamel, JA. (2009) Anaxyrus americanus. (American toad). Egg cannibalism. Herpetological Review. 40 (1):67-68.
Petranka JW, Harp EM, Holbrook CT, & JA Hamel. (2007) Long-term persistence of amphibian populations in a restored wetland complex. Biological Conservation. 138: 371-380.
Reynolds BC, Hamel J, Isbanioly J, Klausman L & KK Moorhead. (2007) From forest to fen: Microarthropod abundance and litter decomposition in a Southern Appalachian floodplain/fen complex (USA). Pedobiologica. 51: 273-280. |
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