Researcher, Prof Make Headlines
December 16, 2010 - In the News
Graduate student Eryn McFarlane was featured on CBC Radio's As It Happens Thursday night talking about her recent research on understanding female promiscuity among red squirrels.
McFarlane, along with integrative biology professor Andrew McAdam, has discovered promiscuity among female red squirrels is not tied to genetics but rather is overwhelmingly influenced by how many males are available. Because their mating behaviour is not linked to genetics, female squirrels will mate with multiple males even when the costs far outweigh the benefits. Optimal mating strategies can evolve only if there is a genetic basis to the behaviour.
Their findings were published this week in the Royal Society Journal Biology Letters.
This research has also appeared in the Toronto Star and on Discovery news, as well as in numerous other publications across North America.
As It Happens airs weekdays at 6:30 p.m. on CBC Radio One, 89.1 FM.
