Colette St. Mary

personal site

Associate Professor 
Ph.D.   University of California at Santa Barbara, 1994

610 BAR
Box 118525 
Gainesville, FL
32611-8525
Voice: (352) 392-1636
Fax: (352) 392-3704
stmary@zoology.ufl.edu

Research Interests

Behavioral ecology of fishes and marine invertebrates. Empirical and theoretical studies of reproductive ecology and life-history evolution with a focus on mating systems, sexual selection and sex allocation. The incorporation of behavior and evolutionary processes in fisheries management. 

Students Currently Supervised

Charles B. Gunnels IV (PhD, Co-advisor with H. Jane Brockmann)
http://www.zoology.ufl.edu/bgunnels/
Alternative strategies and nesting decisions in Myschocyttarus mexicanus, a primitively eusocial wasp.

Rebecca Hale (PhD, cosponsored with Craig Osenberg)
http://www.zoology.ufl.edu/hale/
Parental investment theory; environmental and genetic effects on paternal care in flagfish (Jordanella floridae).

Holly Kindsvater (MS/PhD, cosponsored with Craig Osenberg)
http://www.zoology.ufl.edu/kindsvater/

Krista McCoy (PhD through SNRE, cosponsored with Lou Guillette)
http://zoology.ufl.edu/kristam
I study questions regarding how endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) interact with natural stressors, and how these effects scale up from genes through individuals to populations. Many natural stressors influence endocrine system function; therefore these stressors may interact with endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) to induce unpredictable effects on wildlife. Endocrine disrupting pollutants may play an important role in modulating population dynamics because they can influence homeostasis, survival, and reproductive success. Although we know much about the effects of particular contaminants on organisms, one limitation of traditional eco-toxicological studies is that these effects and their mechanisms are not studied within an ecological context. For example, it is not clear how the effects of EDCs change relative to competition, predation, and density. Knowing how ecological factors influence an organism's response to EDCs, and other pollutants, will help us predict the effects of pollutants in the wild and will advance our understanding of how to restore polluted habitats.

Rachel Schwab (MS/PhD, cosponsored with H. Jane Brockmann)
Chemical communication in horseshoe crabs.

Representative Publications

Pampoulie C, K Lindström and CM St. Mary. 2004. Have your cake and eat it too: parental care acts as courtship in sand gobies. Behavioral Ecology. 15(2): 199-204.

Isvaran, K and CM St. Mary. 2003. When will males lek? Insights from a dynamic optimization model. Behavioral Ecology. 14(6): 876-886.

Bonnevier, K, L Lindström, and CM St. Mary. 2003. Parental care and mate attraction in the Florida flagfish. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 53:358-363.

Hale, RE, CM St. Mary and K Lindström. 2003. Parental care in flagfish: Do fathers alter parental effort in response to offspring mortality risk? Environmental Biology of Fishes 67(2): 107-116.

St. Mary, CM, CG Noureddine and K Lindström. 2001. Environmental effects on male mating success and parental care in the Florida flagfish, Jordanella floridae. Ethology 107:1035-1052.

St. Mary, CM. 2000. Sex allocation in Lythrypnus (Gobiidae): Variations on a hermaphroditic theme. Environmental Biology of Fishes 58(3):321-333