We seek to challenge the view that olfaction is an unimportant sensory modality for birds. Our lab will address two major themes in biology: 1) Understanding the role of chemical communication in birds, particularly in reproductive and social contexts, and 2) Determining how symbiotic microbes affect host behaviour and fitness.
The field of avian chemical ecology is rapidly expanding and rich in opportunity. Our goal is to answer fundamental questions about the role of chemical communication in mate choice and sociality by i) determining how birds integrate multimodal information to arrive at a mate choice decision, ii) elucidating the importance of chemical cues in avian mate choice, iii) conducting behavioural experiments to evaluate the scope in which birds assess olfactory information, iv) identifying microbes that affect host odour and behaviour, and v) testing whether symbiotic microbiota impact host fitness.
We focus on birds because, while they possess sophisticated sensory capabilities and are among the world’s most well-studied taxa, their chemical communication has largely been ignored. Understanding vertebrate communication via this overlooked sensory modality within this well-studied taxonomic group has the potential to reshape how we think about sexual selection and the evolution of sociality.
Research interests:
- Animal communication
- Behavioural ecology
- Chemical ecology
- Microbial ecology
- Sexual selection and mate choice
- Breeding biology
- Social behaviour
- Ornithology
Dr. Grieves will be recruiting graduate students for 2027. Interested? Get in touch!
“Nothing makes sense in life except in the light of diversity”
Students of all ethnicities, races, genders, sexual orientations, and cultural backgrounds are welcome on our team – there is no place for hate here!
leannegrieves.com 