Events

Event Description

Please join the Biology Department for a candidate talk by Caleb Axelrod.

Brains and Plasticity: Fish Adaptation to Environmental Variation

Environmental change is ubiquitous across our planet and is only being exacerbated by human activity. A critical goal of biology is understanding the characteristics that allow organisms to survive in the face of such variation. In this talk, Prof. Axelrod will outline his research that addresses this goal by focusing on the evolution of brain morphology, behavior, and phenotypic plasticity of fish. He will discuss both observational and experimental studies of the impacts of diversity in brains and behavior on fitness, as well as the importance of trait flexibility in shaping fish’s abilities to adapt to changing environments.

Caleb Axelrod is an evolutionary ecologist interested in the ways that organisms deal with change and variation in their environment. His focus is on freshwater fish ecology and evolution. He grew up on the west coast of Canada, before moving eastward for school, completing his Bachelor of Science in Biology and Queen’s University, followed by his Ph.D. in Integrative Biology at the University of Guelph. After that, he conducted postdoctoral research focusing on evolution of Trinidadian Guppies first at Washington University in St. Louis and then at Cornell University. However, he wanted to get more into teaching and so transitioned to a Visiting Assistant Professor position at Williams College. He is now a VAP at Swarthmore College teaching Evolutionary Biology and Conservation Biology.