February 10, 2023
Comparative social evolution in mammals
Dr. Jennifer Smith
University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire
Abstract
My research integrates the tools of comparative social evolution to study key questions relevant to human societies within the context of non-human animals (e.g., leadership, inequality) and social network data from long-term field studies on recognizable mammals across space and time. In my seminar, I will draw from these diverse perspectives to reveal the rules governing: (i) sex bias in collective action (e.g., intergroup conflict, group travel, and intragroup coalitions) across mammals, (ii) intergenerational transfer of wealth across the tree of life, (iii) consistent individual variation in social network traits across major ecological situations, and (iv) risk-sensitive behavioral and physiological responses to natural and anthropogenic threats. More broadly, this research aims to uncover the extent to which mammalian social decisions vary with ecological context and evolutionary history to explain the behavioral ecology of social mammals, including humans.
Biosketch
Jennifer Smith is a behavioral ecologist whose research integrates perspectives from evolutionary biology, animal behavior, genetics, physiology, and urban ecology to reveal how natural selection and current conditions shape decision-making in mammals. As leader of the Long-term Study on the Behavioral Ecology of California ground squirrels, Smith's team of undergraduates combines naturalistic observations with field experiments, genetic and endocrine analyses, and social network statistics to test evolutionary theory. Smith is also internationally recognized for her comparative research on social lives of mammals, especially those of carnivores. This work reveals the evolutionary and ecological forces favoring leadership and cooperation. Her recent career awards for excellence in teaching and mentoring include those from the Animal Behavior Society and Phi Beta Kappa. Smith earned her master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign (prairie vole dispersal) and Michigan State University (spotted hyena cooperation) and was postdoctoral fellow at UCLA (marmot behavioral endocrinology). She taught and served as Biology Chair at Mills College in Oakland, California, a small-Hispanic serving women’s college in Oakland California prior to joining the Biology Department at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in Fall 2022.