Beth Brittan-Powell, Ph.D.

University of Maryland

Robert J. Dooling, Ph.D.

University of Maryland

Project Description

In collaboration with Robert Dooling and Beth Brittan-Powell in the Laboratory of Comparative Psychoacoustics - part of the University of Maryland's Center for Comparative and Evolutionary Biology of Hearing - we are measuring audiograms in gray treefrogs using the auditory brainstem response.

Project Funding

• NIH training grant DC-00046 (RJD)
• NIH R03 grant DC-008396 (MAB)
• McKnight Land-Grant Professorship from the University of Minnesota (MAB)

Project Outcomes To Date

• Brittan-Powell E, Dooling RD,Bee MA (2009). Using the ABR to assess the coherence between spectral sensitivity, the acoustic environment, and behavioral selectivity in frogs. 32nd Mid-winter Meeting of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology. Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Ming-Feng ("Adam") Chuang

Tunghai University, Taiwan

Yeong-Choy Kam, Ph.D.

Tunghai University, Taiwan

Project Description

We are collaborating with a PhD student (Adam) and his advisor (Kam) from Tunghai University in Taiwan to better understand the vocal and territorial behavior of the olive frog, Rana adenopleura. This is a common species in southeast Asia that has a mating system similar to that of North American green frogs and bullfrogs.

Project Funding

• Grant-in-Aid of Research from the University of Minnesota Graduate School (MAB)
• McKnight Land-Grant Professorship from the University of Minnesota (MAB)

Godfrey Bourne, Ph.D.

University of Missouri, St. Louis

Project Description

For her dissertation research, Beth Pettitt is working in collaboration with Godfrey Bourne to test hypotheses about the role of female choice in the parental care system of the golden rocket frog (Anomaloglossus beebei), a neotropical species wtih bi-parental care. This project seeks to understand whether females can select high-quality fathers based on individual variation in their acoustic signals, and whether acoustically-mediated mate choice has direct or indirect benefits for females.

Project Funding

• Elmer C. Birney Fellowship (2008; Pettitt)
• International Pre-Dissertation & Small Grant Fund, Office of International Programs (2008; Pettitt)
• University of Minnesota’s Graduate School Thesis Research Grant (2008; Pettitt)
• Andrews-Hunt Fund Award (2008; Pettitt)
• Animal Behavior Society Grant (2008; Pettitt)
• Dayton & Wilkie Natural History Fund Grant (2008; Pettitt)
• Gaige Fund Award, American Society of Ichthyology & Herpetology (2008; Pettitt)
• Grant-in-Aid of Research from the University of Minnesota Graduate School (2008; Bee)
• McKnight Land-Grant Professorship from the University of Minnesota (2008; Bee)
• National Science Foundation GK-12 Fellowship (2007-2008; Pettitt)
• The Explorers Club Exploration Fund Grant (2007; Pettitt)
• Sigma Xi Graduate Research Award (2007; Pettitt)
• Florence Rothman Fellowship (2007; Pettitt)
• Minnesota Herpetological Society Grant (2007; Pettitt)
• Chicago Herpetological Society Grant (2007; Pettitt)
• Carol H. and Wayne A. Pletcher Graduate Fellowship (2006; Pettitt)

Prof. Dr. Georg M. Klump

Carl von Ossietzky Universitaet, Germany

Christophe Micheyl, Ph.D.

University of Minnesota

Project Description

This ongoing project seeks to understand the neural mechanisms of sound source segregation based on chronic recordings from the songbird homologue of primary mammalian auditory cortex. The project is headed by Georg Klump (Bee's postdoc advisor) at the Carl von Ossietzky Universitaet, in Oldenburg Germany. The final phase of our collaboration on this project involves work with Christophe Micheyl and Andrew Oxenham in the University of Minnesota's Auditory Perception and Cognition Lab.

Project Funding

• DFG SFB/TRR 31 (GMK)
• NSF INT-0107304 (MAB)
• NIH R01-07657 (S. Shamma, AJO, CM)

Project Outcomes To Date

Micheyl C, Bee MA, Oxenham AJ, Klump GM  (2008) Multi-second adaptation of neural responses to tone sequences in the avian forebrain and its relationship with the build-up of auditory streaming. 31st Mid-winter Meeting of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology. Phoenix, Arizona, USA.

Bee MA , Buschermöhle M, and Klump GM ( 2007) Detecting modulated signals in modulated noise: II. Neural thresholds from the songbird auditory forebrain. European Journal of Neuroscience, 26, 1979-1994. PDF

Buschermöhle M, Feudel U, Klump GM, Bee MA , and Freund J (2006) Signal detection enhanced by comodulated noise. Fluctuation and Noise Letters , 6, 339-348. PDF

Bee MA and Klump GM (2005) Auditory stream segregation in the songbird forebrain: Effects of time intervals on responses to interleaved tone sequences. Brain, Behavior and Evolution, 66, 197-214. PDF

Bee MA and Klump GM (2004) Primitive auditory stream segregation: A neurophysiological study in the songbird forebrain. Journal of Neurophysiology, 92, 1088-1104. PDF