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Education

• Ph.D. in Biology, University of Miami, 2006

Research Interests

• Animal behavior, behavioral ecology
• Communication, bioacoustics
• Cognition
• Avian ecology and conservation

Research Description

Dr. Anderson studies animal behavior with a focus on social behavior, communication, and cognition.

Through theÌý Behavioral Ecology and Bioacoustics Laboratory, Anderson and team employ field behavioral ecology and laboratory experiments to study the form and function of communication signals, mechanisms that enforce reliability in signaling systems, and the role that cognitive abilities such as learning and memory play in sexual signaling and mate choice. The Laboratory focus is to study the vocal behaviors of songbirds as a model system to understand how behavior develops and evolves.

Anderson’s approach is interdisciplinary and collaborative, combining acoustic recording and analysis, tests of cognitive performance, field observation and experimentation of wild birds, studies of behavioral development in captive birds, and hormone measurement and manipulation.Ìý

Currently, Anderson and team are expanding the research scope to include proximate mechanisms of behavioral regulation, including microbiome analysis, and endocrinological mediators of aggression and stress responsiveness, to understand the evolution of social behavior and communication systems.

Recent Publications

• Heather Wolverton andÌýRindy Anderson (2024). Syntax in animal communication: its study in songbirds and other taxa.ÌýJournal of Avian Biology.
• Charles Daria, Morgan Slevin, and Rindy AndersonÌý(2022).ÌýÌýEffects of anthropogenic noise on cognition, bill color, and growth in the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata).ÌýÌýActa Ethologica. Special Issue: Impact of global change on social interactions: Ecological and fitness implications.Ìý
• Jill Soha, Joseph Niederhauser, and Rindy Anderson (2022). Song repertoires, song type sharing, and sharing of preferred song transitions in male Bachman’s Sparrows (Peucaea aestivalis).ÌýWilson Journal of Ornithology. 134 (3): 495–506.Ìý
• Charles Daria, Morgan Slevin,Ìý Rindy AndersonÌý (2022).Ìý Ìý Effects of anthropogenic noise on cognition, bill color, and growth in the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata).Ìý Ìý Acta Ethologica. Special Issue: Impact of global change on social interactions: Ecological and fitness implications.Ìý
• Morgan Slevin, Jennifer Houtz, David Bradshaw, andÌý Rindy Anderson Ìý(2020). Evidence supporting the microbiota-gut-brain axis in a songbirdÌýBiology Letters. Published onlineÌý .
• Erik Noonburg,Ìý Rindy AndersonÌý(2020)ÌýAsymmetric competition and floater dynamics: a modelÌýEcology. Published onlineÌý .
• Sabah Ali,Ìý RindyÌýAndersonÌý(2018) Song and aggressive signaling in Bachman's sparrow.ÌýThe Auk: Ornithological Advances Ìý .

Scholarly Activities