Research in my laboratory falls under the broad theme of the evolution of communicative behavior. In particular, I am interested in the ecological selection pressures that interact with organisms to produce mating systems, courtship and parental behavior, and the signals that accomplish communication between the individuals involved. I have developed a theoretical framework specific to the fishes, but I suspect expandable to include all sexual organisms, that appears to predict and explain the prevalent patterns of mating and parental care. My empirical research has been geared to determining if natural populations meet the assumptions of the model, and if the variance in RS predicted by the model is realized in nature. To this end I have been closely following reproduction in a closed population of bass in a long-term effort to determine the true pattern of lifetime reproductive success in a self- sustaining population. Conceptually, my approach is to treat a lake as a petri dish; it takes advantage of the fact that the populations of fishes in seepage lakes are 'closed.' My efforts in this direction will continue. I also will continue to set students on "targets of opportunity" in outside areas, if a particular question looks inviting.

Graduate students supervised who've recently earned graduate degrees:

Doug Kramer, MS in Zoology. 2000. Caching and Cache Recovery by Florida Scrub Jays

Alison Colby (accolby@lycos.com)- Behavioral Ecology of Native Stream Fishes

Graduate student attributes:
    Breadth of background in general science and biology.
    Evidence of analytical thinking ability.
    Evidence of ability to complete a project.
    Good recommendation letters.
    Ability and desire to work independently.

Sample Recent publications:

Papers in refereed national/international journals:

• Gillooly, J.F. and J.R. Baylis.  2000.  Reproductive success and the energetic cost of parental care in male smallmouth bass.  Journal of Fish Biology.

• Wiegmann, D.D. and J.R. Baylis.  1997.  Male fitness, body size and timing of in smallmouth bass, Micropterus dolomieui.  Ecology 78(1):  111-128.

• Wiegmann, D.D. and J.R. Baylis.  1995.  Male body size and parental behaviour in smallmouth bass, Micropterus dolomieui (Pisces:  Centrarchidae).  Animal Behaviour 50(6):  1543-1555.

Book chapters:

• Baylis, J.R.  1995.  The population level consequences of individual reproductive competition:  Observations from a closed population.  In:  Nielsen, J.L. (ed.) Evolution and the Aquatic Ecosystem.  Published by the American Fisheries Society.  pp 217-226.