New contributor Rob Denton
This week we’re pleased to welcome a big group of new contributors to the blog. By way of introduction, I asked each of them to answer a few quick questions about him- or herself. —Jeremy
Who are you? I’m a 4th year PhD candidate in the Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology at Ohio State University.
Where are you? Columbus, Ohio, USA
What do you study? North America is home to one of the weirdest amphibians in the world, a group of all-female salamanders that mainly reproduce clonally but occasionally “steal” sperm from males of other species. This method of reproduction is unique among vertebrates and has been around for quite a long time (~6 million years), but it is difficult to explain how this all-female lineage stays in balance with the sexual salamanders that they take advantage of by having their cake (not making males) and eating it too (still getting new genetic diversity). I study some of factors that may drive the coexistence between sexual salamander species and this all-female lineage.
What do you do when you’re not studying it? Academically, I’m also interested in the science of teaching and learning, especially how inquiry and technology affect students’ learning. Non-academically, I’m a husband, father, homebrewer, and hockey fan. I’m lucky enough that my job takes me to do a lot of things that I enjoy outside of work anyway, like traveling to interesting places and finding wildlife.
