Emilia Martins

Emilia Martins

Professor, Biology

  • emartins@indiana.edu
  • (812) 856-5840
  • Jordan Hall 133B
  • Office Hours
    M-F
    By Appointment Only

Education

  • Ph.D., University of Wisconsin, 1992

About

My primary research interest is in the evolution of complex behavioral traits such as communication and social behavior. Our goal is to understand how microevolutionary processes acting on a generation time scale (e.g., random genetic drift, selection, learning) translate into the macroevolutionary patterns we see in a set of interspecific data. Primarily, we strive to understand the evolutionary forces driving the evolution of communication and social behavior in lizards and fish. How do genetic and social factors interact over long periods of evolutionary time? Are major patterns of behavioral differentiation best explained by the strongest selective pressures or by those which are the most persistent, albeit sometimes weak?