Individuals have to learn how to navigate a complicated social environment, making decisions like who to engage with and who to avoid, who to mate with and who to reject, and who to fight and who to run away from. One of the ways individuals can gather information to make these decisions is by watching the behaviors of others, or eavesdropping. I'm curious about how individual identity, social experience, ecological factors, and genetics influence the behaviors of both the individual being watched and the watcher.
As a Stengl-Wyer Scholar at the University of Texas, I am using sailfin mollies to investigate how environmental variables can drive variation in mate-choice copying behaviors.
As a Stengl-Wyer Scholar at the University of Texas, I am using sailfin mollies to investigate how environmental variables can drive variation in mate-choice copying behaviors.
Previous Projects
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I investigated the effects of social information use and production on social decision-making in an aggressive context using Drosophila melanogaster for my dissertation work at Rice University.
As an undergraduate at Texas A&M in Gil Rosenthal's mate-choice laboratory, I investigated how the presence of a female trait influenced male-male aggression in the freshwater swordtail Xiphophorous birchmanni. This project was funded by an NSF LSAMP Scholarship.
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Publications
Hutchins, M. & Saltz, JB, in press. "Eavesdropping and audience effect in fighting fruit flies reveal feedback between social information use and production." Accepted to Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. bioRxiv link: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.09.01.555942v2
Hutchins, M., Douglas, T., Saltz, JB (2024) "Genetic variation in male aggression is influenced by genotype of prior social partners in D.melanogaster." The American Naturalist 203(5): 551-561.DOI:10.1086/729463
Hutchins, M., Douglas, T., Saltz, JB (2024) "Genetic variation in male aggression is influenced by genotype of prior social partners in D.melanogaster." The American Naturalist 203(5): 551-561.DOI:10.1086/729463
Selected Presentations
M. Hutchins, JB Saltz, "Somebody’s watching me: exploring the effects of social information use and production." (August 2023) Invited Oral Presentation at Rice’s Biosciences Retreat.
M. Hutchins, JB Saltz, "Is Social Information Production and Use Genetically Correlated in D.melanogaster?" (July 2022) Invited Oral Presentation in Social Competency Symposium at Animal Behavior Society Annual Conference.
M. Hutchins, JB Saltz, "The effect of sex and genotypic variation of an audience on aggressive signaling behaviors." (October 2020) Oral Presentation at American Genetic Association Annual Symposium.
M. Hutchins, JB Saltz, "Is Social Information Production and Use Genetically Correlated in D.melanogaster?" (July 2022) Invited Oral Presentation in Social Competency Symposium at Animal Behavior Society Annual Conference.
M. Hutchins, JB Saltz, "The effect of sex and genotypic variation of an audience on aggressive signaling behaviors." (October 2020) Oral Presentation at American Genetic Association Annual Symposium.
