Michael J. Ryan, Ph.D.

Project

The Evolution of Natural Beauty

Sexual selection by female choice has generated some of the more spectacular and aesthetically pleasing traits in the animal kingdom. Yet outside of the field of sexual selection, there is only a very poor understanding of how evolution generates these traits. I will begin work on a book that will bring this stimulating field of evolutionary biology to a larger, well-educated lay audience.

Recommended Reading

Ryan, M. J. (1985). The Túngara Frog: A Study in Sexual Selection and Communication. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
- (1990). "Sensory Systems, Sexual Selection, and Sensory Exploitation." Oxford Surveys in Evolutionary Biology 7: 157-195.
- (2010). "The Túngara Frog: A Model for Sexual Selection and Communication." In Encyclopedia of Animal Behavior, edited by Michael D. Breed and Janice Moore, 453-461. Oxford: Elsevier Science, Academic Press.

Publications from the Fellows' Library

Ryan, Michael J. (Princeton, 2018)

A taste for the beautiful : the evolution of attraction

Ryan, Michael J. (2017)

Environmental conditions limit attractiveness of a complex sexual signal in the túngara frog

Ryan, Michael J. (2011)

Signal perception in frogs and bats and the evolution of mating signals

Ryan, Michael J. (2011)

Relative comparisons of call parameters enable auditory grouping in frogs

Ryan, Michael J. (Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y, 2011)

An introduction to animal behavior : an integrative approach

Ryan, Michael J. (2010)

Complexity increases working memory for mating signals

Ryan, Michael J. (2010)

Determination of onset of sexual maturation and mating behavior by melanocortin receptor 4 polymorphisms

Ryan, Michael J. (Washington, DC, 2008)

Sex-specific perceptual spaces for a vertebrate basal social aggregative behavior

Ryan, Michael J. (2008)

Categorical perception of a natural, multivariate signal : mating call recognition in túngara frogs

Ryan, Michael J. (Washington, DC [u.a.], 2001)

Anuran communication