Research themes
Emergence and function of behavioural variation
Behavioural ecotoxicology
Invasive species
Sexual selection in a changing world
Emergence and function of behavioural variation
Across the animal kingdom, individuals within populations exhibit distinctive and characteristic patterns of behaviour, similar to personality in humans. For example, individuals can consistently vary in how they respond to threats or changes in their environment (e.g. escape or stay). Such individual diffferences in behaviour are intriguing from an ecological and evolutionary standpoint, because such variation provides the foundation from which natural selection and population-level adaptation can occur. Thus, any shift in within-population behavioural variance could have profound implications for how species respond to current and future environmental change. My research uses methods from movement ecology and ecophysiology to explore the proximate causes of behavioural individuality, and seeks to understand how emerging stressors (e.g. chemical pollutants, human-wildlife interactions) shape the development and expression of behavioural variation.
Example publications
Michelangeli M, Payne E, Spiegel O, Sinn D, Leu S, Gardner M, Sih A. (2022) Personality, spatiotemporal ecological variation, and resident/explorer movement syndromes in the sleepy lizard, Journal of Animal Ecology, 91, 210-223, https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13616|PDF
Ortiz-Jimenez C, Michelangeli M, Pendleton E, Sih A, Smith J (2022). Behavioural correlations across multiple stages of the antipredator response: do animals that escape sooner, hide longer? Animal Behaviour, 185, 175-184, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2022.01.001|PDF
Michelangeli M, Goulet CG, Kang HS, Wong BBM, Chapple DG (2018) Integrating thermal physiology within a syndrome: locomotion, personality and habitat selection in an ectotherm, Functional Ecology, 32, 970–981, https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.13034|PDF
Michelangeli M, Chapple DG, Goulet CT, Bertram MG, Wong BBM (2019). Behavioural syndromes vary among geographically distinct populations of a reptile. Behavioral Ecology, 30, 393–401.https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/ary178|PDF
Munson A*, Michelangeli M*, Sih A (2021) Stable social groups foster conformity and among-group differences, Animal Behaviour, 174, 197–206, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2021.02.011|PDF
Invasive species are a leading cause of biodiversity loss and environmental degradation. It is seldom recognised however, that of the world’s entire biodiversity, only a handful of animal species have repeatedly become invasive. Thus, identifying the species characteristics that selectively favor and mediate invasion success is a key research priority. I am interested in the behavioural and social mechansims that drive species invasions. In partricular, I study the role that trait variation plays in explaining differential invasion success among species, but also within species. I am also interested in how other environmental stressors (e.g. rising global temperatures, chemical pollution) interact and mediate the impact and spread of invasive species.
Invasive species
Example publications
Chapple DG, Naimo AC, Brand JA, Michelangeli M, Martin JM, Goulet C, Brunton D, Sih A, Wong BBM (2022) Biological invasions as a selective filter driving behavioural divergence, Nature Communications, 13, 5996 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-33755-2|PDF
Michelangeli M, Smith CR, Chapple DG, Wong BBM (2017) Aggression mediates dispersal tendency in an invasive lizard. Animal Behaviour, 133, 29–34, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2017.08.027|PDF
Brand J, Naimo A, Michelangeli M, Martin J, Sih A, Wong BBM, Chapple D (2021) Population differences in the effect of context on personality in an invasive lizard, Behavioral Ecology, 32, 1363– 1371, https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arab102|PDF
Michelangeli M, Cote J, Chapple DG, Sih A, Brodin T, Fogarty S, Bertram M, Eades J, Wong BBM (2020). Sex-dependent personality in two invasive species of mosquitofish, Biological Invasions, 22, 1353-1364, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-019-02187-3|PDF
Chung M, Goulet CG, Michelangeli M, Wong BBM, Chapple DG (2017) Does personality influence learning? A case study in an invasive lizard. Oecologia, 185, 641–651, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-017-3975-4|PDF
Behavioural ecotoxicology
Globally, wildlife and ecosystems are being exposed to an extraordinary array of chemical compounds. Besides causing mortality at acutely lethal levels, these pollutants can elicit a range of sublethal effects on animals, including behavioural disruption. My work is investigating how these emerging chemical contaminants, in particular psychiatric medications (e.g. antidepressants, stimulants), disrupt complex behavioural traits (e.g. collective behaviour) and ecological interactions (predator-prey dynamics) in wildlife, and what implications this may have for populations and communities. In this regard, I am harnessing tractable fish model systems and animal tracking approaches (e.g. acoustic telemetry), including whole-lake experimental systems, to increase mechanistic understanding and environmental realism in the field of behavioural ecotoxicology. The goal is to generate new knowledge and tools for incorporating behavioural endpoints into chemical risk modelling and environmental policy concerning the regulation of chemical emissions. See here for more information about my MSCA and Formas funded research project ‘AquaDrugs’
Example publications
Michelangeli M, Martin JM, Pinter-Wollman N, Ioannou C, McCallum ES, Bertram MG, Brodin T (2022) Predicting the impacts of chemical pollutants on animal groups, Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 37, 789-802, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2022.05.009|PDF
Bertram MG, Martin JM, McCallum ES, Alton LA, Brand JA, Brooks BW, Cerveny D, Fick J, Ford AT, Hellström G, Michelangeli M et al. (2022) Frontiers in quantifying wildlife behavioural responses to chemical pollution, Biological Reviews, 97, 1346-1364, https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.12844|PDF
Martin JM, Bertram MG, Saaristo M, Ecker TE, Hannington SL, Tanner JL, Michelangeli M, O’Bryan MK, Wong BBM. (2019) Impact of the widespread pharmaceutical pollutant fluoxetine on behaviour and sperm traits in a freshwater fish. Science of the Total Environment, 649, 1771–1778. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.09.294|PDF
Martin JM, Bertram M, Blanchfield P, Brand J, Brodin T, Brooks B, Cerveny D, Lagisz M, Ligocki I, Michelangeli M et al. (2021). Evidence of the impacts of pharmaceuticals on aquatic animal behavior: a systematic map protocol. Environmental Evidence, 10, 1-10, https://doi.org/10.1186/s13750-021-00241-z|PDF
Bertram MG, Martin JM, Saaristo M, Ecker TE, Michelangeli M, Deal NS, Lim SL, O’Bryan MK, Wong BBM (2019). Context-specific behavioural changes induced by exposure to an androgenic endocrine disruptor, Science of the Total Environment, 664, 177-187. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.01.382|PDF
Sexual selection in a changing world
Animals have evolved elaborate sexual signals (auditory, visual, olfactory) and behaviours to maximise their reproductive success. Sexual signals are used by reciepients to assess the quality of potential mates, and thus such signals play a critical role in mating decisions. However, changes in the environment can alter the effectiveness of sexual signals, potentially shifting sexual selection towards other reproductive strategies and traits. I am interested in the impacts that environmental pollution has on pre- and post-copulatory reproductive behaviours in wildlife and its consequences for sexual selection.
Example publications
Tomkins P, Saaristo M, Bertram M, Michelangeli M, Tomkins, R, Wong, BBM (2018) An endocrine-disrupting agricultural contaminant impacts sequential female mate choice in fish. Environmental Pollution, 237, 103–110, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2018.02.046|PDF
Bertram MG, Tomkins P, Saaristo M, Martin JM, Michelangeli M, Tomkins RB, Wong BBM (2020). Disruption of male mating strategies in a chemically compromised environment, Science of the Total Environment, 703:134991. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.134991|PDF
Michelangeli M, Tuomainen U, Candolin U, Wong BBM (2015). Habitat alteration influences male signalling effort in the Australian desert goby. Behavioural Ecology, 26, 1164–1169, https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arv060|PDF
Michelangeli M, Wong BBM (2014). A recent predatory encounter influences male courtship in a desert-dwelling fish. Behavioural Ecology, 25, 928–932, https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/aru056|PDF
