Biologists and non-biologists are fascinated by widespread similarities and prodigious diversity in animal behavior. Nature documentaries, conservation agencies, and educators capitalize on the intuitive appeal of the fact that human and non-human animals exhibit similar behaviors – including aggression, courtship, and parental care – as well as the amazing diversity of forms these behaviors take and adaptations animals have to perform them. A modern extension of this fascination asks whether similarities in behavior are governed by the same underlying mechanisms – including brain regions, neurochemicals, and genes. Exploration of underlying mechanisms can improve our understanding of the phenomena that shape evolution and organisms’ ability to adapt to novel and changing environments, and the accuracy of the assumption that shared behaviors share underlying mechanisms is central to the success of using animal models in biomedical research. 

Dr. Eva Fischer, Assistant Professor at UC Davis College of Biological Sciences, leverages the uniquely diverse parenting behaviors of charismatic frogs to address these questions.