Ph. D., University of Wisconsin-Madison

   

Office:     311C Life Sciences Building

Phone:   1-419-372-2691

Email:     ddwiegm@bgsu.edu

   

Research:

Behavioral ecology; Reproductive biology of fishes

   

Research Page

   

   

Research Interests:

The conditional strategy provides a powerful explanation for the persistence of alternative behavioral tactics in a population. The conditional strategy more fully accommodates properties of many biological systems than traditional game theory models of behavioral diversity. In particular, the conditional strategy allows for tactic inheritance when there are differences of tactic fitness, a situation that is expected (in a game theory context) to drive the tactic that yields the highest fitness to fixation. In many biological systems negative maternal or paternal effects further complicate the inheritance of condition and, hence, the inheritance of alternative behavioral tactics. Indeed, inheritance of condition in such systems may result in the alternation of tactics across generations. In this paper, we show that the conditional strategy is robust to these effects on progeny condition. There is a unique and stable proportion of tactics under standard inheritance and these two important properties of the conditional strategy hold even if negative maternal or paternal effects on progeny condition cause tactics to alternate across generations. However, the dynamics of tactic proportions pursuant to a perturbation of the equilibrium tactic proportions depends on the form of tactic inheritance. We apply our theoretical results to a population of smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) in which negative paternal effects dictate individual condition and cause an alternation in age at first reproduction across generations. This shows how the model of the conditional strategy can be used to gain insight into tactic dynamics in situations where some of the model parameters are difficult or impossible to measure empirically. For more information about my research program, please visit http://personal.bgsu.edu/~ddwiegm/Site/Welcome.html.

Selected Publications:

Wiegmann, D.D., and T. Nguyen. 2006. Mating system and demographic constraints on the opportunity for sexual selection. Theoretical Population Biology 69: 34-47.

Waldron, F.A., D.D. Wiegmann and D.A. Wiegmann. 2005. Negative incentive contrast and flower choice in bumble bees. International Journal of Comparative Psychology 18: 281-294.

Wiegmann, D.D. and M. Morris. 2005. Search behavior and mate choice. Recent Advances in Experimental and Theoretical Biology 1: 201-216.

Wiegmann, D. D., L. M. Angeloni, J. R. Baylis, and S. P. Newman. 2004. Negative Maternal and Paternal Effects on Inheritance of Life History Tactics Under a Conditional Strategy. Evolution 58, 1530-1535.

Wiegmann, D. D., D. A. Wiegmann, and F. A. Waldron. 2003. Effects of a reward downshift on the consummatory behavior and flower choices of bumble bee foragers. Physiology & Behavior 79, 561-566.

Wagner, W. E., Jr., M. R. Smeds and D. D. Wiegmann. 2001. Experience affects female responses to male song in the variable field cricket. Ethology 107, 769-776.

Wiegmann, D. D., D. A. Wiegmann, J. MacNeal and J. Gafford. 2000. Transposition of flower height by bumble bee foragers. Animal Cognition 3, 85-89.

Wiegmann, D. D. 1999. Search behavior and mate choice by female field crickets, Gryllus integer. Animal Behaviour 58, 1293-1298.

Wiegmann, D. D., K. Mukhopadhyay, and L. A. Real. 1999. Sequential search and the influence of male quality on female mating decisions. Journal of Mathematical Biology 39, 193-216.

Shafir, S., D. D. Wiegmann, B. H. Smith, and L. A. Real. 1999. Risk-sensitive foraging: choice behavior of honey bees in response to variability in volume of reward. Animal Behaviour 57, 1055-1061.

Wiegmann, D. D., and K. Mukhopadhyay. 1998. The fixed sample search rule and use of an indicator character to evaluate mate quality. Journal of Theoretical Biology 193, 709-715.

Wiegmann, D. D., J. R. Baylis, and M. H. Hoff. 1997. Male body size, fitness and age at first reproduction in smallmouth bass, Micropterus dolomieui . Ecology 78, 111-128.

Wiegmann, D. D., L. A. Real, T. A. Capone, and S. Ellner. 1996. Some distinguishing features of models of search behavior and mate choice. The American Naturalist 147, 188-204.

Wiegmann, D. D. and J. R. Baylis. 1995. Male body size and paternal care in smallmouth bass, Micropterus dolomieui (Pisces: Centrarchidae). Animal Behaviour 50, 1543-1555.

Baylis, J. R., D. D. Wiegmann, and M. H. Hoff. 1993. Alternating Life Histories in smallmouth bass. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 122, 500-510.

Wiegmann, D. D., J. R. Baylis, and M. H. Hoff. 1992. Sexual selection and fitness variation in a population of smallmouth bass, Micropterus dolomieui (Pisces: Centrarchidae). Evolution 46, 1740-1753.

Wiegmann, D. D. 1990. On assessing the potential for evolutionary change due to male-male competition and female choice in territorial species. Journal of Theoretical Biology< 144, 203-208.