People

Principal Investigator: Allison Roth

Allison is broadly interested in behavioral ecology with a focus on animal social interactions and animal personality. Allison is very question driven, and as a result, works on research involving a variety of study systems including birds, fish, insects, primates, mesocarnivores, small mammals, arachnids, and lizards. Allison earned a PhD from The University of Oxford, a Master's from Columbia University, and a Bachelor's from the University of California, Santa Cruz. In her free time she enjoys traveling, thrifting, foraging, fossil hunting, caring for her houseplants (while letting her outdoor plants shrivel up and die), and spending time with friends. 

Alex Sidare (2025 - Present)

Alex is doing a PhD in the Roth Lab. Alex's research uses Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) to explore the temporal dynamics of social behavior in PIT tagged California quail. Alex is most interested in the process of covey breakup and covey reformation.

Diane Cordero (2025 - Present)

Diane is doing a PhD in Professor Manuel Leal's Lab at MU. She is currently doing a rotation project which is cosupervised by Professor Rex Cocroft and myself. Diane is broadly interested in animal personality and cognition. Diane's work with the treehoppers focuses on exploring the effects of personality on mating behavior and success in Tylopelta gibbera. 

Audrey Davenport (2024- Present)

Audrey's research focuses on examining the effects of animal personality on maternal behavior in Umbonia crassicornis treehoppers. Audrey is cosupervised by Professor Rex Cocroft at MU.

Megan Lawler (2024 - Present)

Megan's research focuses on exploring patterns of cold tolerance in two species of katydids: Neoconocephalus affinis and Neoconocephalus triops. Megan is co-supervised by Professor Johannes Schul.

Abigail Coburn (2024 - Present)

Abigail's research focuses on exploring whether three-spined stickleback with different ecotypes (whites versus commons) have different rates of aging. Abigail is co-supervised by Professor Enoch Ng'oma and Ellen Mazalale at MU.

Oscar Karlen (2024 - Present)

Oscar's research focuses on using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) data to explore patterns of dominance in PIT tagged raccoons. This work is being done in collaboration with Dr. Lauren Stanton at the University of California, Berkeley.

Natalia Valdés Heredia (2025 - Present)

Natalia is the force behind our PIT tagged population of California quail at Hastings Reserve in Carmel Valley. Natalia is a GrizzlyCorps Fellow through the University of California, Berkeley.

David Jerome (2025 - Present)

David is a quail lover and citizen scientist who is the powerhouse that keeps our PIT tagged population of California quail at Idyllwild-Pine Cove up and running. David is also the Editor of the Idyllwild Town Crier and a classically trained guitar player.