Dr. Gail Michener
Professor of Biological Sciences at University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.

Dr. Gail R. Michener, has been conducting field studies on the behavioral ecology of Richardson's ground squirrels on the Canadian prairies since 1969. Richardson's ground squirrels are often treated by humans as much-despised and worthless rodents; however, they are a critical component of the prairie ecosystem, especially as prey for important predators such as badgers and raptors. When Dr. Michener first moved to the Canadian prairies from Australia, there was much information regarding how to catch (and destroy) the ground squirrels, but even the most fundamental aspects of their basic biology, such as how long pregnancy lasts, were not known. Dr. Michener has filled-in many of these gaps, acquiring information on their basic biology in conjunction with addressing theoretical questions about adult-offspring interactions, male/female differences, and social organization. Most recently Dr. Michener's research has focused on sexual differences in costs of reproduction. Although most behavioral studies of North American ground squirrels have concentrated on their activity when above ground during the active season, these animals spend the majority of their lives underground. Dr. Michener therefore has used radiotelemetry to determine what males and females are doing underground. She has found that sexual differences in behavioral and physiological ecology extend into the underground lives of Richardson's ground squirrels.

During the past 20 years Dr. Michener's research on Richardson's ground squirrels has been funded continuously by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada. This work has resulted in more than 40 refereed scientific articles and 4 book chapters, as well as other publications. Her efforts have been recognized by, among others, the American Society of Mammalogists, which awarded her the C.H. Merriam Award for Distinguished Contributions; the University of Lethbridge, which presented her the Distinguished Teaching award; as well as the Animal Behavior Society, of which she is a Fellow. Dr. Michener has also served the academic community as President of the Animal Behavior society, Associate Editor of the Journal of Mammalogy, and Executive Member and President of the Canadian Council on Animal Care.

Gail Michener has turned a life-long interest in animals into a very productive career, but she also continues to enjoy animals outside of her research. She and her husband share an interest in bird watching, which they use as a justification to travel to warmer climes (Cuba, Costa Rica, Fiji, and Australia) to escape the cold Canadian winter for a few weeks, while the squirrels are hibernating underground.

Dr. Stephen Nowicki
Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Associate Professor in the Departments of Zoology, Psychology, and Neurobiology at Duke University.

Dr. Stephen Nowicki began his academic training at Tufts University, where he majored in biology and music, and went on to study acoustic communication at Cornell, a subject which appealed to his musical sensibility. His research focuses on the structure, function, and evolution of animal communication systems, especially the interface between physiology, development and evolution. Dr. Nowicki's current research includes work on the mechanism of signal production, and the constraints on signal evolution. One focus of this research concerns the physiology and physics of bird vocal tracts, and how the vocal tract affects the acoustic properties of the sounds a bird produces. Gradually this work has led to questions about how vocal mechanisms might influence the evolution of birdsong. Most recently Dr. Nowicki has began to pursue a somewhat different line of inquiry, concerning the function and evolution of complex vocal repertoires. In many species of songbirds, males sing more than one version of their species-typical song. The number of songs a male sings, referred to as his "repertoire," typically is used as a measure of "complexity" in analyses of how female preferences for song could evolve through sexual selection. Dr. Nowicki and collaborators were led to ask the question of what it really means to say a bird's repertoire is "complex," and they are focusing on the case of the song sparrow, a species in which song variation occurs on different levels of organization. As with earlier work, this research has been characterized by an integration of proximate questions about mechanism (e.g., how song variation is perceived by these birds and how it develops) and ultimate questions about function (e.g., how song variation influences the behavior of both males and females responding to the signal).

Dr. Nowicki is also active in other aspects of the academic community. He is the Co-Director of Duke's Undergraduate Neuroscience Program, he worked to revise the introductory biology program there, and he is also been involved with Project Kaleidoscope, a national non-profit organization promoting reform in science education at the university level. Dr. Nowicki's teaching efforts resulted in his being recognized with Duke's Robert B. Cox Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1992. He also has also been active in various professional organizations; he was elected Fellow of the Animal Behavior Society in 1998, and currently serves as Chair of the Division of Animal Behavior for the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology.

Steve Nowicki has had a varied and productive professional career. Outside of his professional life, he continues to enjoy music, and wonder at the physiology and physics which allows him to hear it. He and his wife, Susan Peters, who also studies animal communication, collaborate in passing on this interest and wonder in natural sounds to their young son, Schuyler.