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Dr Jodie Gruber

Dr Jodie Gruber

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

 Daphne du Maurier 3052

 

Daphne du Maurier Building, University of Exeter,  Penryn Campus, Penryn, Cornwall, TR10 9FE, UK

Overview

I am a behavioural and evolutionary ecologist with a broad range of research interests including the evolution of sociality, cooperation and conflict, cognition, and sex ratios. Much of my research involves testing the effect of environmental, social and genetic factors on the expression and evolution of behavioural traits. I take an integrative approach to my research testing proximate and ultimate hypotheses using experimental, genetic and theoretical methods in both the field and laboratory.

My current research investigates the evolution of social behaviour. I am testing hypotheses based around inclusive fitness, the evolution of cooperation and the selective pressures that lead individuals to sacrifice investment in their own direct fitness to help raise the offspring of relatives. Questions driving this research include: Why cooperate? What trade-offs and conflicts occur amongst group members? What environmental, social and genetic factors affect social phenotype? Are social traits plastic or canalized? What strategies do individuals use to gain the greatest fitness advantage from living in social groups?

The model system for my current research is the primitively social sweat bee Halictus rubicundus. In sweat bees, there is little dimorphism between queens and workers and workers are able to reproduce independently (unlike the sterile worker castes that occur in obligately eusocial species such as honeybees). Furthermore, both social and solitary nesting tactics occur between and within sweat bee populations making them an ideal model system for examining the effects of environment on social phenotype and exploring the evolution of sociality.

 

Qualifications

  • 2018 PhD in Zoology, University of Sydney
  • 2011 First Class BA (Hons.) in Zoology, University of Tasmania

Career

  • 2019: ongoing ERC Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Exeter
  • 2018 Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Australian National University

Research group links

Research

Research interests

  • Social Evolution
  • Cooperation and conflict
  • Cognition
  • Sex ratios and sex allocation
  • Behavioural plasticity 

Much of my research involves testing the effect of environmental, social and genetic factors on the expression and evolution of behavioural traits. I take an integrative approach to my research testing proximate and ultimate hypotheses using experimental, genetic and theoretical methods in both the field and laboratory.

Research projects

  • The evolution of social behaviour in the sweat bee Halictus rubicundus
  • The effect of male survivorship, mate choice and age-related mating competency on the value to mothers of sons versus daughters in sweat bees 
  • Behavioural ecology of fiddler crabs: personality, leadership and dishonest signalling
  • Geographic divergence in behavioural traits that enhance invasion success in cane toads (Rhinella marina)

 

Publications

Key publications | Publications by category | Publications by year

Publications by category


Journal articles

Gruber J, Field J (2022). Male survivorship and the evolution of eusociality in partially bivoltine sweat bees. PLOS ONE, 17(10), e0276428-e0276428. Abstract.
Gruber J, Kahn A, Backwell PRY (2019). Risks and rewards: balancing costs and benefits of predator avoidance in a fiddler crab. Animal Behaviour, 158, 9-13.
Gruber J, Brown G, Whiting MJ, Shine R (2018). Behavioural divergence during biological invasions: a study of cane toads (<i>Rhinella marina</i>) from contrasting environments in Hawai'i. Royal Society Open Science, 5(4), 180197-180197. Abstract.
Gruber J, Whiting MJ, Brown G, Shine R (2018). Effects of rearing environment and population origin on responses to repeated behavioural trials in cane toads (Rhinella marina). Behavioural Processes, 153, 40-46.
Gruber J, Cunningham GD, While GM, Wapstra E (2017). Disentangling sex allocation in a viviparous reptile with temperature‐dependent sex determination: a multifactorial approach. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 31(2), 267-276.
Gruber J, Brown G, Whiting MJ, Shine R (2017). Geographic divergence in dispersal-related behaviour in cane toads from range-front versus range-core populations in Australia. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 71(2).
Gruber J, Brown G, Whiting MJ, Shine R (2017). Is the behavioural divergence between range-core and range-edge populations of cane toads (. <i>Rhinella marina</i>. ) due to evolutionary change or developmental plasticity?. Royal Society Open Science, 4(10), 170789-170789. Abstract.
Gruber J, Whiting MJ, Brown G, Shine R (2017). The loneliness of the long-distance toad: invasion history and social attraction in cane toads (. <i>Rhinella marina</i>. ). Biology Letters, 13(11), 20170445-20170445. Abstract.

Publications by year


2022

Gruber J, Field J (2022). Male survivorship and the evolution of eusociality in partially bivoltine sweat bees. PLOS ONE, 17(10), e0276428-e0276428. Abstract.

2019

Gruber J, Kahn A, Backwell PRY (2019). Risks and rewards: balancing costs and benefits of predator avoidance in a fiddler crab. Animal Behaviour, 158, 9-13.

2018

Gruber J, Brown G, Whiting MJ, Shine R (2018). Behavioural divergence during biological invasions: a study of cane toads (<i>Rhinella marina</i>) from contrasting environments in Hawai'i. Royal Society Open Science, 5(4), 180197-180197. Abstract.
Gruber J, Whiting MJ, Brown G, Shine R (2018). Effects of rearing environment and population origin on responses to repeated behavioural trials in cane toads (Rhinella marina). Behavioural Processes, 153, 40-46.

2017

Gruber J, Cunningham GD, While GM, Wapstra E (2017). Disentangling sex allocation in a viviparous reptile with temperature‐dependent sex determination: a multifactorial approach. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 31(2), 267-276.
Gruber J, Brown G, Whiting MJ, Shine R (2017). Geographic divergence in dispersal-related behaviour in cane toads from range-front versus range-core populations in Australia. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 71(2).
Gruber J, Brown G, Whiting MJ, Shine R (2017). Is the behavioural divergence between range-core and range-edge populations of cane toads (. <i>Rhinella marina</i>. ) due to evolutionary change or developmental plasticity?. Royal Society Open Science, 4(10), 170789-170789. Abstract.
Gruber J, Whiting MJ, Brown G, Shine R (2017). The loneliness of the long-distance toad: invasion history and social attraction in cane toads (. <i>Rhinella marina</i>. ). Biology Letters, 13(11), 20170445-20170445. Abstract.

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