Outreach

The Marler Lab loves to participate in educational outreach activities to instill passion for science and communicate our research to a broader audience!

Current Outreach Projects:

UW-Madison High School Science Expo
Educational Videos of Research
Educational Audio Recordings

Past Outreach Projects:

Expanding Your Horizons
Family Lab Days

 

UW-Madison High School Science Expo

This year, the Marler Lab ran a “Demo Booth” at ALAN‘s UW-Madison High School Science Expo!

We were grateful to meet some incredible high school students interested in pursuing science, and had many meaningful conversations about neuroscience, academia, and personal identity. We look forward to participating in the Science Expo again next year!

Kelci Cox (Graduate Student), Elsa Luebke (Research Specialist), and Emma Hammond (Graduate Student) volunteering at the UW-Madison High School Science Expo at Madison East High School!

 

Research Specialist Elsa Luebke working the “Demo Booth” at the Science Expo showing students from Madison East High School a human brain!

Educational Audio Recordings

California mice readily produce ultrasonic vocalizations. Take a listen!

Click HERE to Link to the full playlist on Soundcloud


Barks are loud calls that start in the human audible range before entering the ultrasonic range.

Barks are most commonly used as a defensive technique against an aggressor(1).

(1)= Read more here:
Rieger, NS, and Marler, CA. 2018. The function of ultrasonic vocalizations during territorial defence by pair-bonded male and female California mice. Animal Behaviour 135: 97-108 (Link).

Recording by Josh Pultorak.


Sustained Vocalizations (SVs) are long low-bandwidth calls used primarily during social situations.

-SVs predict interactions between members of a pair-bond(1).
-In pair-bonded males SVs are suppressed in response to novel females following testosterone injections(2).
-SV durations appear to be particularly important to the meaning of the call with shorter calls predicting greater aggression towards a same-sex member of the species(3).

(1)= Read more here:
Pultorak, JD, Matusinec, KR, Miller, ZK, Marler CA. 2017. Ultrasonic vocalization production and playback predicts intrapair and extrapair social behaviour in a monogamous mouse. Animal Behaviour 125: 13-23 (Link).

(2)= Read more here:
Pultorak, JD, Fuxjager, MJ, Kalcounis-Rueppell, MC, Marler, CA. 2015. Male fidelity expressed through rapid testosterone suppression of ultrasonic vocalizations to novel females in the monogamous California mouse. Hormones and Behavior 70: 47-56 (Link).

(3)= Read more here:
Rieger, NS, and Marler, CA. 2018. The function of ultrasonic vocalizations during territorial defence by pair-bonded male and female California mice. Animal Behaviour 135: 97-108) (Link).

Recording by Josh Pultorak.


Sweep-phrases are highly complex high frequency calls similar to song in other species.

-The function of these calls remains unknown, but they are present in response to same-sex intruders which suggests a possible role in territoriality(1).

-These calls have also been made during parent-offspring interactions (Guoynes, unpublished observations).

(1)= Read more here:
Rieger, NS, and Marler, CA. 2018. The function of ultrasonic vocalizations during territorial defence by pair-bonded male and female California mice. Animal Behaviour 135: 97-108 (Link).

Recordings by Nathan Rieger.


 

Educational Videos of Research

We are currently working on producing videos that demonstrate some of our projects in animal behavior. Check back soon!