Joshua Schwartz

Faculty Bio

My main interests are vertebrate behavior and sensory ecology with a focus on animal communication. The objective of my research program is to increase our understanding of how both proximate and ultimate factors, including adaptations facilitating the detection and assessment of biologically relevant sensory information, can shape the communication systems of animals.

Awards and Honors

• 1985, Dobzhansky Prize, Society for the Study of Evolution

PhD, The University of Connecticut, 1984
Biology

MFS, Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, 1978
Wildlife and Population Ecology

BA, Connecticut College, 1976
Botany

Research Interest

My main interests are vertebrate behavior and sensory ecology with a focus on animal communication. The objective of my research program is to increase our understanding of how both proximate and ultimate factors, including adaptations facilitating the detection and assessment of biologically relevant sensory information, can shape the communication systems of animals.

Past Courses

BIO 101: General Biology I
BIO 102: General Biology II
BIO 123: Biology & Contemporary Society
BIO 205: Cncpts of Envrnmntl Scnce
BIO 210: Ecology
BIO 220: Human Biology & Cntmpry Scty
BIO 292: Bio Lbrtry Rsrch Trng
BIO 322: Animal Behavior
BIO 395: Independent Study in Biology
BIO 396: Guided Study in Biology
BIO 480: Research in Biology
BIO 481: Research in Biology II
BIO 490: Intro to Rsrch in Biolgcl Sci
BIO 490: Practicum in Research Methods
ENS 611: Environmental Science II
ENS 772: Thesis Preparation
ENS 792: Rsrch in Envrnmntl Sci I
ENS 793: Rsrch in Envrnmntl Sci II
ENV 380: Junior Year Research Seminar
ENV 499: Senior Year Exp/Environmental

Publications

All's well that begins Wells: Celebrating 60 years of Animal Behaviour and 36 years of research on anuran social behaviour.
Bee, M. A., Schwartz, J. & Summers, K. (2013). Animal Behaviour. Vol 85 , pages 5-18.

Perception by frogs in the presence of chorus-shaped noise: I. Behavioral measures of signal recognition thresholds
Schwartz, J. & Bee, M. A. (2009). J. Acoust. Soc. Amer.. (Issue 126) , pages 2788-2801.

Acoustic Interaction in Animal Groups: Signaling
Schwartz, J. & Freeberg, T. M. (2008). Journal of Comparative Psychology. (Issue 122) , pages 231-234.

Interference risk and the function of dynamic shifts in calling in the gray treefrog
Schwartz, J., Brown, R., Turner, S., Dushaj, K. & Castano, M. (2008). Journal of Comparative Psychology. (Issue 122) , pages 283-288.

Professional Memberships

• AAAS
• American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists
• American Society of Naturalists
• Animal Behavior Society
• Ecological Society of America
• Herpetologists League
• Sigma Xi
• Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles
• Society for the Study of Evolution