Johann Hofmann
University of Texas at Austin, TX·Ecology & Evolution
New species can arise partly because of how rivals fight. If a territorial male attacks lookalike competitors more than different-looking ones, rare forms face fewer costly fights.
- Fields
Ecology & Evolution
Neuroscience
Genetics
- Topics
speciation
male-male competition
aggression
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Aug 2030
What they work on
- Estimate how many genetic loci control aggression bias and male body coloration, and how tightly they are linked, using quantitative genetics and QTL mapping in red Pundamilia nyererei and blue P. pundamilia cichlids.
- Test how social experience and social context shape whether males direct aggression at same-colored rivals, using social learning experiments with Lake Victoria cichlids.
- Identify the brain mechanisms behind aggression biases by combining neural activity mapping, pharmacological manipulation of dopamine signaling, and neural transcriptome analysis.
- Compare aggression biases across populations where the two species show different degrees of reproductive isolation, to test how this behavior relates to stages of speciation.
More about the research
That advantage can help distinct forms persist and split into separate species. Yet little is known about the brain and genes behind this "look-alike" aggression bias. This collaborative project studies it in fish, linking behavior to evolution and biodiversity.
Why it matters
This is basic research on how competition between males can drive the origin and coexistence of species. By connecting genes, brain activity and social learning to a behavior that shapes evolution, it adds to understanding of how biodiversity arises and is maintained, and could inform broader ideas about how social behavior and its neural control evolve.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Ryan Wong
University of Nebraska at Omaha, NE·Neuroscience·Early-career
Estimate how many genetic loci control aggression bias and male body color in red Pundamilia nyererei and blue P. pundamilia cichlids, and whether they are linked, using quantitative genetics and QTL mapping.
James Liao
University of Florida, FL·Neuroscience
Compare lateral line sensitivity between surface fish and blind cavefish across larval development, using in vivo patch clamp recordings from neurons connected to flow-sensing hair cells.
Seema Patel
Emory University, GA·Microbiology & Immunology
Map genetic regions controlling the antibody response to factor VIII by immunizing Diversity Outbred mice, bred from eight inbred founder strains, and running quantitative trait locus analysis on antibody phenotypes.
The school
University of Texas at Austin: 49 labs on PI Pages, $1.1B a year on research, 871 research doctorates a year.
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