Maranda Keller

Biological Sciences: Integrative and Organismal Biological Sciences - MS

Research Topic: Influences of competitive interactions and climatic variation on species' persistence

I am investigating the influences of competitive interactions and climatic variation on the persistence of an intriguing group of insects, the burying beetles. Burying beetles (Silphidae: Nicrophorus) exhibit unique reproductive behavior that is entirely dependent on securing small vertebrate carcasses–a highly ephemeral and unpredictable resource-and using this resource as a food source for their offspring. With such scramble competition necessary for resource acquisition, burying beetles represent a model system for investigating the mechanisms necessary for species’ persistence. By comparing the daily temporal activity and spatial patterns of five sympatric burying beetle species, my research explores the significance of spatio-temporal niche partitioning in mediating competition among congeners. Furthermore, my work aims to predict the capacity of burying beetles to persist among projected climatic change through the transgenerational examination of plastic responses to rising temperatures.