Lauryn Benedict

Gregory DeKrey

Assistant Professor

  • Postdoctoral training: Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, Berkeley, CA
  • Ph.D.: Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA
  • B.A.: Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

Contact information

Courses taught | Research interests | Publications |Recently presented papers

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Courses taught

  • BIO 102 (Success in Biology)
  • BIO 111 (Survey of Organismal Biology)
  • BIO 362 (Principles of Animal Behavior)
  • BIO 438/538 (Ornithology)
  • BIO 563 (Animal Communication)
  • BIO 591 (Biology Roundtable)

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Research interests

I study animal communication and social behavior. My research focuses on bird song as a model system for understanding how signals evolve in nature. To understand song function I examine how individuals use vocal signals within particular environmental and social contexts. I study larger patterns of song evolution by measuring how songs vary through time and space, both within and between species. I am particularly interested in vocal duetting, where paired birds coordinate their vocalizations. Current projects examine the function and evolution of song and duets among Colorado wren species, New World sparrows, and Old World warblers. Research in the lab combines field observation, population-monitoring, and sound recording analyses within a phylogenetic context.

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Research Publications

  • Benedict L, Rose A, Warning N (2012) Canyon wrens alter their songs in response to territorial challenges. Animal Behaviour. 84:1463-1467
  • Benedict L, Bowie RCK (2012) Rattling cisticola song features and variability across sub-Saharan Africa. Journal of Zoology. 287:96-103.
  • Benedict L, Kunzmann MR, Ellison K, Purcell KL, Johnson RR, Haight LT (2011) California Towhee (Melozone crissalis). In: The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology. No. 632.
  • Benedict L (2010) California towhee duets are multi-functional signals for multiple receivers. Behaviour. 147:953-978.
  • Benedict L, Bowie RCK, Fuchs J, MacManes M (2010) When non-coding is non-neutral: the role of CHD1 gene polymorphism in sexing, phylogenetics and as a correlate of fitness in birds. Ibis. 152:223-225.
  • Benedict L, Bowie RCK (2009) Macrogeographical variation in the song of a widely distributed African warbler. Biology Letters. 5:484-487.
  • Benedict L (2009) Long term home range occupancy and short term changes in habitat use by California towhees (Pipilo crissalis). Southwestern Naturalist. 54:324-340.
  • Benedict L, McEntee JP (2009) Context, structural variability and individuality of California towhee (Pipilo crissalis) duets. Ethology. 115:77-86.
  • Benedict L (2008) Unusually high levels of extrapair paternity in a duetting species with long-term pair bonds. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. 62:938-988.
  • Benedict L (2008) Occurrence and life history correlates of vocal duetting in North American passerines. Journal of Avian Biology. 39: 57-65.
  • Benedict L (2007) Offspring discrimination without recognition: California towhee responses to chick distress calls. Condor. 109: 79-87.
  • Shiflett MW, Smulders TV, Benedict L, DeVoogd TJ (2003) Reversible inactivation of the hippocampal formation in food-storing black-capped chickadees (Poecile Atricapillus). Hippocampus. 13: 437-444
  • Koenig WD, Benedict LS (2002) Size, insect parasitism, and energetic value of acorns stored by acorn woodpeckers. Condor. 104: 539-547

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Recently presented papers and posters

Invited talks

  • Department of Fish, Wildlife and Conservation Biology, Colorado State University (2011) Fort Collins, CO.
  • Department of Biology, University of the Pacific (2010) Stockton, CA.
  • Symposium on the Evolution of Cooperation at AAAS-PD (2009) San Francisco, CA.
  • Department of Natural Sciences, Baruch College, City University of New York (2008) New York, NY
  • MVZ Evolutionary Biology Seminar Series (2007) Berkeley CA
  • Duetting Symposium at the 11th IBEC (2006) Tours, France
  • UC Natural Reserve System’s Mathias Symposium (2004) Bodega Bay, CA

Contributed talks and poster presentations

  • Fifth North American Ornithological Congress (2012) Vancouver, BC, Canada
  • Animal Behavior Society Meetings (2012) Albuquerque, NM
  • International Ethological Congress / Animal Behavior Society (2010) Bloomington, IN
  • Guild of Rocky Mountain Ecologists and Evolutionary Biologists (GREEBs) (2010) Pingree Park, CO
  • Evolution 2009 (2009) Moscow, ID
  • 12th International Behavioral Ecology Congress (2008) Ithaca, NY
  • Animal Behavior Society meetings (2007) Burlington, VT
  • 11th International Behavioral Ecology Congress (2006) Tours, France (Poster)
  • 4th North American Ornithological Congress (2006) Veracruz, Mexico (Poster)
  • Animal Behavior Society meetings (2005) Snowbird, Utah
  • American Ornithologists’ Union meetings (2005) Santa Barbara, CA
  • 6th annual Bay Area Conservation Biology Symposium (2004) Davis, CA
  • North American Ornithological Congress (2002) New Orleans, LA (Poster)
  • Gulf of Maine Seabird Working Group Conference (2000) Bremen, ME
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