212 Schaefer Hall
240-895-2216 office
240-895-4996 fax
jjprice@smcm.edu

Education:

B.Sc.H., Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada

Ph.D., University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC

Postdoctoral work, Bell Museum of Natural History, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN

Click here to see my C.V.

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Jordan Price

Evolutionary Biologist & Behavioral Ecologist ~ Associate Professor

Joined St. Mary's College of Maryland: 2002

Courses I teach regularly at St. Mary’s include: Animal Behavior, Molecular Evolution, Tropical Biology, Ecology & Evolution, Principals of Biology Lab, and Genetics Lab.

My primary research interests are in animal behavior and evolutionary biology. In particular, I’m interested in acoustic communication and the evolution of animal signals. Songbirds provide excellent subjects for these sorts of studies, so much of my previous research has focused on them.

My graduate research, under the direction of Haven Wiley, focused on communication and cultural transmission in the Venezuelan stripe-backed wren. This early experience gave me a keen interest in bioacoustics, a love for tropical biology, and some nasty internal parasites. Later, in my postdoctoral research with Scott Lanyon, I focused on reconstructing the evolution of complex birdsong in a group of tropical New World blackbirds called the oropendolas and caciques. This work not only let me pursue my interests in behavioral evolution, but also allowed me to master some important new skills in molecular biology and comparative phylogenetics.

My current research combines detailed observations of animal behavior in the field with analyses in the lab to test hypotheses about the evolution of animal communication. Besides addressing interesting biological questions, this approach provides great opportunities to involve St. Mary’s students in an integrative research program that spans a range of investigative methods, from field biology to molecular techniques. Current interests include the effects of sexual selection on song and plumage patterns in birds, the evolution of female bird song (described here), and the evolution of echolocation in birds (described here). I have also worked for the last few years on an NSF-funded collaboration with Kevin Omland studying vocal behavior and evolution in the New World orioles.

Selected Publications (* indicates undergraduate co-author):

Price, J. J., and L. M. Whalen*. 2009. Plumage evolution in the oropendolas and caciques: different divergence rates in polygynous and monogamous taxa. Evolution 63: 2985-2998. (PDF)

Price, J. J. 2009. Evolution and life history correlates of female song in the New World blackbirds. Behavioral Ecology 20: 967-977. (PDF)

Price, J. J., S. M. Lanyon and K. E. Omland. 2009. Losses of female song with changes from tropical to temperate breeding in the New World blackbirds. Proceedings of the Royal Society Series B 276: 1971-1980. (PDF)

Reichard*, D. G., and J. J. Price. 2008. Species recognition in a vocal mimic: repetition pattern not the only cue used by Northern Mockingbirds in discriminating songs of conspecifics and Brown Thrashers. Wilson Journal of Ornithology 120: 717-724. (PDF)

Price, J. J., L. Yunes-Jiménez*, M. Osorio-Beristain, K. E. Omland and T. G. Murphy. 2008. Sex-role reversal in song? Females sing more frequently than males in the Streak-backed Oriole. Condor 110: 387-392. (PDF)

Price, J. J., N. R. Friedman*, and K. E. Omland. 2007. Song and plumage evolution in the New World orioles (Icterus) show similar lability and convergence in patterns. Evolution 61: 850-863 (PDF) (Featured on the COVER).

Cramer*, E. R. A., and J. J. Price. 2007. Red-winged blackbirds Ageliaus phoeniceus respond differently to song types with different performance levels. Journal of Avian Biology 38: 122-127. (PDF)

Price, J. J., S. M. Earnshaw*, and M. S. Webster. 2006. Montezuma oropendolas modify a component of song constrained by body size during vocal contests. Animal Behaviour 71: 799-807. (PDF)

Thompson*, S. A., and J. J. Price. 2006. Water clarity and diving behavior in wintering Common Loons. Waterbirds 290: 169-175. (PDF)

Price, J. J., K. P. Johnson, S. Bush, and D. H. Clayton. 2005. Phylogenetic relationships of the Papuan Swiftlet and implications for the evolution of avian echolocation. Ibis 147: 790-796. (PDF)

Price, J. J., K. P. Johnson, and D. H. Clayton. 2004. The evolution of echolocation in swiftlets. Journal of Avian Biology 35: 135-143.(PDF)

Price, J. J., and S. M. Lanyon. 2004. Patterns of song evolution and sexual selection in the oropendolas and caciques. Behavioral Ecology 15: 485-497. (PDF)

Price, J. J., and S. M. Lanyon. 2004. Song and molecular data identify congruent but novel affinities of the Green Oropendola. Auk 121: 224-229. (PDF)

Price, J. J. 2003. Communication with shared call repertoires in the cooperatively breeding Stripe-backed Wren. Journal of Field Ornithology 74: 166-171. (PDF)

Price, J. J., and S. M. Lanyon. 2002. Reconstructing the evolution of complex bird song in the oropendolas. Evolution 56: 1514-1529. (PDF)

Price, J. J., and S. M. Lanyon. 2002. A robust molecular phylogeny of the oropendolas: polyphyly revealed by mitochondrial sequence data. Auk 119: 335-348. (PDF) (Featured on the COVER)

Price, J. J. 1999. Recognition of family-specific calls in Stripe-backed Wrens. Animal Behaviour 57: 483-492. (PDF)

Price, J. J. 1998. Family- and sex-specific vocal traditions in a cooperatively breeding songbird. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B 265: 497-502. (PDF)