Supervisors: Prof Rob Salguero-Gómez, Dr Keaghan Yaxley, Prof Diana Fisher
I am an MBiol student researching male-only semelparity in arthropods for my fourth-year project. Specifically, I am investigating whether greater male investment in traits indicative of sperm competition is associated with semelparity. This research involves measuring body parts of museum specimens and published digital images, as well as collating published data on body part measurements (e.g. the testes size and spermatophore volume) and loss of body parts during mating. I will then analyse my data via phylogenetic regressions. I am interested in the evolutionary forces driving different social behaviours and life-history adaptations seen across the animal kingdom (especially insects), as well as conservation and ecology in general.
