The Anderson Lab
Our laboratory studies behavioral ecology, animal communication,
and bioacoustics
By Paula Ziadi
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Wouldn’t feel like the start of a new year without going to SICB. This year the conference was held in beautiful Tampa, FL, and what a whirlwind it was! The Anderson lab really brought their A game this year: Joe and I presented talks and Morgan presented a poster. This was my first ever conference talk, and to say that I was nervous would be an understatement! I’ll just say this: Scott MacDougall-Shackleton was the session chair, and the great Steve Nowicki sat in the first row… need I say more? But, I am so glad for the experience! I got great feedback from Dr. Nowicki, and felt honored for the opportunity to present my research to amazing scientists. I couldn’t have asked for a more exciting way to begin my last semester at FAU!
January 2019
SICB time!
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Not pictured: Morgan's excellent poster presentation.
April 2018
Welcome Ph.D. student Morgan Slevin!
Morgan will begin the Integrative Biology PhD Program (Neuroscience emphasis) in August, but he has already begun work in the field and the lab, assisting with banding, blood sampling, territory assessments, GIS analysis - you name it. Morgan comes to us from Arkansas State University where he completed a Master's degree on the ecology of the Prothonotary Warbler. We are excited to have Morgan aboard!
February 2018
In honor of the lab's first two publications with students, we celebrated in the Swedish tradition, with cake! Well, cupcakes. Congratulations to Joe, Sabah, and Rindy on their papers. Since Joe was out of town, we will have to have another cake when he returns!
November 2017 & January 2018
It's been a busy couple of months in the Anderson Lab. In November, the lab attended the Florida Ornithological Society Conference for the second time in wonderful Gainesville, FL, and in January, as is tradition, the lab attended the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology in exciting San Francisco, CA. I mean exciting, not just because of the awesome work that was presented, but also because on the second night of the conference we experienced a 4.4 magnitude earthquake (not typical for us, Floridians). Maybe having so many scientists aggregate in one small area is conducive to seismological disasters?...Just a hypothesis. Nonetheless, it was a great way to start the year meeting lots of great scientists and hearing about their work.
October 2017
Joe, Rachel and Paula represented the Anderson Lab on October 4th at the 3 minute thesis preliminary competition.
​Rachel won 2nd Runner up and Joe won 1st Runner up!!!
​They are both proceeding to the final championship held on October 20th, stay tuned for updates!
September 2017
Rindy hosted a visit from Ofer Tchernichovski from Hunter College, CUNY, who gave a fantastic seminar about the development of rhythm in zebra finch song for the FAU Brain Institute Seminar Series. Thank you Ofer for a fun and informative visit!
May 2017
Sabah Ali has done a fantastic job as an undergraduate researcher, so we were thrilled when he was recognized for all of his research achievements by being named the Undergraduate Researcher of the Year for the FAU College of Science. At the May 5th graduation ceremony, FAU President Kelly spoke about Sabah and his remarkable achievements as a dual- enrolled FAU High School student and FAU Neurobiology and Behavior undergraduate:
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"One of these students, eighteen-year-old Sabah Ali, recently was named Undergraduate Researcher of the Year for the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science. This prestigious award recognizes ONE exemplary undergraduate student from each college who has gone above and beyond in research, scholarship and creative activities. Sabah’s research, which he presented at the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology’s 2017 conference, focused on the communication system of Bachman’s sparrows, and how it is used in male-to-male competitions. During his time at FAU, he also served as an Owls Care Leader, helping to promote health and wellness on campus. Today, Sabah receives his bachelor’s degree in neuroscience and behavior with highest honors, summa cum laude, along with an Honors Thesis Distinction. Next, he plans to pursue a Ph.D. in neuroethology, which is the study of how the nervous system plays a role in animal behavior. Congratulations, Sabah! I’d like to invite you and your very proud family to please stand to our applause."
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Congratulations Sabah!
March 2017
Northern cardinal expert extraordinaire Jodie Jawor visited to show Rindy and Rachel the ropes with working with these lovely birds. Rachel held her first male and female cardinals, and here's Rindy trying to take a feisty fellow out of the holding bag without getting bitten. Bitey bitey!
January 2017
The start of a new year means we headed off to the annual Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology meeting in New Orleans, LA. This year, Rindy gave a talk on the adaptation of 'soft song' for short range communication in Song Sparrows. And Sabah presented a poster on aggressive signaling in the Bachman's Sparrow.
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Pictured from left to right:
Sabah; Rindy and Marianne Porter, FAU assistant professor.
November 2016
What a great weekend! The Anderson Lab had a wonderful time at the Florida Ornithological Society Conference at Archibold Biological Station. Joe, Sabah, and Rachel presented posters on their current research projects!
Pictured from left to right: Joe, Sabah (top);
Rachel, Anderson Lab and members of Dale Gawlik's lab (bottom).
August 2016
Rindy and Paula had a great time at the Animal Behavior Conference at the University of Missouri, Columbia! Rindy gave a talk about the link between song learning and cognitive abilities in song sparrows. Paula learned a lot and had the chance to meet great people doing very interesting work. Here's Rindy and Paula at the poster presentation. So much fascinating and important research presented!
July 2016
Our lab's first field season is a wrap! We learned a lot about working with Bachman's sparrows, and are already looking forward to next year! This photo was taken at one of the more memorable moments from this year's field season, when Rindy got her car stuck in a patch of deep sand. We thought we'd be stuck there overnight, but Sabah, Daniel and David said "no way!" and dug/pushed us free. Way to go team!
March 2016
Field work with Bachman's sparrows has begun at Johnathan Dickinson state park! Luke, Paula and Craig (Rindy's dad) surveyed for territorial males and Rindy and Joe banded the first males.
February 2016
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Joe and Rindy traveled to Tall Timbers Research Station to visit with Jim Cox and pick up tips for working with Bachman's sparrows. We learned a lot, had a great time visiting Jim, and are ready to take our new skills to the Bachman's at the DuPuis Reserve!
Acoustic isolation chamber prototype is here!
Rindy has been working with Dr. John DuBois at Middle Tennessee State University to build custom sound isolation chambers. The prototype arrived at the lab and we are really excited with how it turned out. If your lab is looking for an alernative to IAC chambers (a much cheaper alternative!) contact us.
January 2016
Happy New Year! Rindy started off the year by giving a talk at the annual Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology conference in Portland, OR. The talk summarized a project testing the effects of early nutritional stress on the song and cognitive abilities of zebra finches. Many FAU students and faculty were in attendance and everyone had a fun and stimulating time. Here's Rindy with Marianne Porter, an FAU assistant professor who studies the biomechanics of elasmobranchs.
December 2015
We have truly outstanding undergraduates in our lab! Sabah Ali has won two Undergraduate Research Awards and a Summer Research Fellowship, and Caitlyn and Sabah's team proposal for an Undergraduate Research Award also received funding for 2016. We are on a roll! We can't wait to put this funding into action this spring when we start field work with Bachman's sparrows.
November 2015
In August 2015 we welcomed PhD student Joe Niederhauser, Master's student Rachel Saless, and undergraduate students Sabah Ali, Caitlyn Montero and Luke Otfinowski. We're all ready to ge to work on upcoming projects with song sparrows, Bachman's sparrows and zebra finches!
