Director of Programs and Engagement,
Chicago Council on Science and Technology
Alexandra "Sasha" Prokuda, PhD
SASHA PROKUDA
I am a graduate of the Derek Roff lab at the University of California, Riverside. I studied mate choice and sexual selection. I have published on the topic of quantitative genetics and evolution of sexually selected traits and the preference for them and conducted research into the behavior and mate choice strategies of the sand cricket, Gryllus firmus. I looked into the importance of passive versus active choice strategies and the hierarchy of traits important in mate choice.
MY LATEST RESEARCH
My research on mate choice strategy was conducted using G. firmus as my model system. I used a novel experimental design in order to determine between passive and active mate choice strategy. A modified T-maze design was combined with motion detectors, an electronic acoustic recording device (EAR), and speakers to run two experimental trials for each female. I am currently analyzing the results.
I used a half-sib breeding design in order to look into the heritability of cricket male call characteristics and the preference functions for these traits. Using a combination of the EAR and USB recorders I was able to get measurements for 11 different song traits. I am currently analysing the results.
For the first chapter of my dissertation Dr. Roff and I conducted a review of the quanitative genetics of sexual selection. We found that, when separated by trait type, the heritabilities of sexually selected traits are not different from that of non-sexually selected traits. In contrast with previous findings, the heritability of preference is quite low (h2 = 0.25 0.06) and is in the same range as life-history traits. We distinguished preferred traits as a category of sexually selected traits and found that the heritability of the former is not significantly different than sexually selected traits overall (0.48 0.04 vs. 0.46 0.03). We found evidence that suggests that heritabilities do indeed decrease as sexual selection increases but sexual selection is not strong enough to cause heritabilities of sexually selected traits to deviate from the same type of nonsexually selected traits.
