BIO

When I graduated from Nease High School with my AA and first came to Florida State University in 2022, I wanted to be a veterinarian, but I quickly realized it wasn't for me. I love animals and knew I wanted to work with them, but I was at a loss for what that meant. In the fall of 2023, I finally found my spark in Dr. DuVal's ornithology course and decided to gear my career goals toward wildlife conservation and behavioral research. Despite previously having little knowledge about birds and struggling to keep up initially, I became fascinated. I picked it up quickly, additionally motivated by Dr. DuVal’s kind nature and enthusiasm to involve her students and share her knowledge with our class. Later, I eagerly applied to be a DIS student in the DuVal Lab. This semester, I have been conducting video analyses of Lance-tailed Manakins with Dr. Rivers, who welcomed me into her research as my mentor and has encouraged thoughtful discussions on current studies, which have been a great learning experience for us both. My studies primarily involve avian chemical cues and behaviors, and I look forward to continuing my journey in biological research.

Overmarking in a neotropical passerine bird: the Lance-tailed Manakin

Abstract

Chemical cues play an important role in many animal behaviors. Overmarking, in particular, is the behavior of one individual leaving a scent mark to cover the scent of another, which can be exhibited in various ways and for a variety of potential purposes. There have been many studies of overmarking in mammals, however, very little is known about avian involvement in overmarking. To address this issue, we investigated the chemical signaling behavior of the Lance-tailed Manakin (Chiroxiphia lanceolata), a lekking passerine species located in the neotropics. Pairs of male Lance-tailed Manakins perform cooperative courtship displays on a display perch, which they work together to maintain. We hypothesized that part of this maintenance might include overmarking the scents of other individuals that may visit the perch, due to previous research in this system finding that the males responded to chemical changes on the perch. To determine if overmarking is involved, we analyzed videos of Lance-tailed Manakins at the display perch and recorded their behaviors when the chemical environment on the perch was altered using an ethanol treatment. For each bout of maintenance, we broke down the different types of behaviors involving bill touches on the perch and recorded the frequency of bill touches for each individual. This data provides valuable insight into what factors relate to the maintenance behaviors of males, such as age, social status, and quantity of males in the area, and opens new potential avenues for further research on avian response to chemical cues in this ongoing study.

Keywords: olfaction, avian, overmarking, chemical cues