Department News
Michael Sheehan
- Ph.D. student
- Tibbetts Lab
- Sheehan webpage
Contact information
- University of Michigan
2065 Kraus Natural Science Building
830 North University
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1048 - Phone: (734) 763-3564
- Fax: (734) 111-2222
- Email: mic@umich.edu
Advisor
Fields of study
Behavioral ecology
Research interests
I am broadly interested in social behavior and animal communication. At Michigan, I plan to study the mechanisms of conflict management in paper wasps societies. Specifically, I am researching the evolution of visual individual recognition systems in the Northern paper wasp, Polistes fuscatus. These paper wasps use highly variable and distinctive facial and body markings to recognize colony members as individuals. Since their visual markings are readily manipulated they are an ideal system for studying individual recognition. Previous theoretical work suggests that individual recognition should lead to more stable, linear hierarchies, thus reducing aggression and providing a benefit to the group. Experimental work, however, has not been done to test the theoretical predictions. My current work is examining the benefits of being individually distinctive, the function of individual recognition in a paper wasp colony and cognitive specializations of recognition in paper wasps.
Academic background
B.A. Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania
UM affiliation
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
- College of Literature, Science, and the Arts
Related news
A local Brownie Troop donning pipe cleaner antennae atop their heads visited Professor Liz Tibbett’s lab on Friday, March 23 to earn their Brownie Bug Patches.
EEB graduate student Michael Sheehan has received a National Research Service Award postdoctoral fellowship from the National Institute of Health.
The Gallery Project, UMWELT (Subjective World) runs through October 30, 2011 at 215 South Fourth Ave., Ann Arbor.
