Dr. Wilder's Lab
Trophic Ecology and Nutrition
Our lab is interested in studying carnivores and nutrition both separately and together. One of the major goals of this research program is to use nutrition as a framework to scale from animal physiology to food webs and ecosystems. The dietary requirements of animals determine which food items they choose and this choice, in turn, affects the abundance of plants and animals, with consequences for community and ecosystem dynamics. Predators are a great system for this work since the foraging decisions of predators can have large effects on the structure of food webs and ecosystem properties. We're also interested in studying predators and nutrition for other projects including better understanding life history strategies, sexual selection, invasive species and captive breeding programs. Please contact me if you have any questions.
Opportunities
Collaborations
Nutritional ecology can be applied to examine a wide range of questions and study systems and I am always open to discussing collaborations. I have particular experience: quantifying the nutritional composition of a wide range of arthropods (especially lipid and protein content), quantifying nutrient intake by spiders, and developing experimental diet manipulations, including manipulations of nutrients in live prey items. Please don't hesitate to email me if you are interested in collaborating with me or even just discussing ideas.
Students
I often have openings for dedicated and talented students to work on carnivore biology and ecology at a range of levels: volunteer, student researcher, M.S., or Ph.D. Please contact me if you have an interest in working with me and we can see if there is a position available and our interests align.
Undergraduates
I expect undergraduates working in my lab to commit at least 3-4 hours per week on a fixed schedule. Duties may include a range of basic laboratory work such as:
- Cleaning dishes
- Feeding spiders
- Maintaining fly cultures
- Helping set up experiments, and
- Collecting data.
For students who wish to do undergraduate research with me, volunteering is the first step. While it's not a glamorous job, you will get valuable exposure to a laboratory research environment.
Postdocs
I am always open to inquiries from people interested in being a postdoctoral researcher in my lab. While I don't currently have funding to support a postdoc, there are many potential grants and fellowships to which we could apply for funding.
If you're interested in working with me, please email me.