PIERCE HUTTON
APPOINTMENTS
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Postdoctoral Research Scholar, Florida Atlantic University, 2021-Present
(Advisor:​ Alex Keene)
EDUCATION
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BSc, Biological Sciences (Conservation Bio and Ecology), Arizona State University, 2014
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MSc, Biology, Arizona State University, 2018
(Advisor: Kevin McGraw)​
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PhD, Biology, Arizona State University, 2021
(Advisor: Kevin McGraw)
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RESEARCH INTERESTS
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Photo credit: Richard Borowsky
Sleep evolution, ecology, genetics, and neurobiology
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Currently, I am studying the genetic and neural drivers of sleep behavior in the Mexican tetra (Astyanax mexicanus) using mutagenesis/transgenesis of candidate genes. These studies will help us understand how cave-living populations in these species sleep considerably less than their river-living conspecifics.
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Collaborators: Alex Keene (Texas A&M University)
How does sexual selection and life-history affect sleep?​
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My dissertation focused on the effects of sleep on the development of exaggerated ornaments, like color and song, in house finches.
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Collaborators: Kevin McGraw (Arizona State University)
Sexual ornamentation
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I am interested in the physiological drivers of ornament development. Recently, we have found that male redness predicts fat digestion efficiency in house finches.
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Collaborators: Mathieu Giraudeau (CREEC, France); Tuul Sepp (University of Tartu, Estonia)
Urban ecology ​
Urbanization can cause plastic or genetic differences between urban individuals and their rural counterparts. Together with collaborators, we have found that urban house finches are less colorful, have different head and facial allometry, worse infections with intestinal parasites, and more plumage bacteria.
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Collaborators: Mathieu Giraudeau (CREEC, France); Tuul Sepp (University of Tartu, Estonia); Karen Sweazea (Arizona State University)
Artificial light at night​
Along with my interest in the impacts of urbanization, I have specifically studied the effects of artificial light at night on birds. I have mainly used the rapidly developing king quail ("silver" morph pictured) to test the effects of artificial light during development.
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Collaborators: Mathieu Giraudeau (CREEC, France); Tuul Sepp (University of Tartu, Estonia); Richard Simpson (University of Windsor); Emily Webb (Rockford University); Adam Lendvai (University of Debrecen)
