Positions (MS/PhD) are available in Anne Leonard’s lab at the University of Nevada, Reno for Fall 2015. Our group focuses on plant-pollinator interactions, with an emphasis on the cognitive ecology of pollination and the functional ecology of floral signals and rewards. We study how bees perceive and learn floral stimuli using lab, greenhouse, and field-based approaches. While students have the opportunity to develop their own research focus, the behavioral and nutritional ecology of pollen foraging in bumblebees is a topic of particular interest in our group, as part of an NSF-funded collaboration with colleagues at the University of Arizona (Daniel Papaj and Stephen Buchmann).
The Biology Department at UNR has particular strengths in plant-animal interactions, animal behavior, and sensory/chemical ecology. Reno is situated in the high desert on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, 30 minutes from scenic Lake Tahoe and 3 hours from the San Francisco Bay Area. It offers a high quality of life, a low cost of living, and close proximity to a wide variety of field sites. Applicants should visit the Leonard lab webpage (www.anneleonard.com), as well as the website for the doctoral program in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology (www.unr.edu/eecb) or the MS program in Biology (www.unr.edu/biology/degree-programs) for admissions requirements and application information. All applicants should also plan to contact anneleon...@unr.edu directly with their research interests/experiences and CV before December 1st, 2014.
