Department of Biology

Website

siefferman.appstate.edu

Education

• NIH Postdoctoral Fellow, Indiana University, 2006–07

• Ph.D., Biological Sciences, Auburn University, 2005

• B.S. Biology & B.A. Anthropology, Indiana University, 1995

About

The Siefferman lab is interested in the evolution of reproductive behaviors, sexually selected traits, animal personality and conservation biology. We apply tools from endocrinology and immunology tools to test hypotheses in behavioral ecology and conservation biology.

We often focus on wild breeding Eastern bluebirds and Tree swallows — local cavity nesting birds that breed in our 330 nestboxes in Watauga County, NC. They are good model systems for studying ecology and evolution because we can easily capture them, measure feather color, measure parental personality and quantify nestling growth and physiology. We follow marked populations of ~85 pairs of each species every summer.

Much of the lab’s past research centered on the evolution of plumage color in general and how female traits can also function in signaling. Lately, the lab focuses equally on the evolution of animal personality. Our work suggests that individual personality impacts how animals cope with social and anthropogenic pressures. Selection has shaped female cavity nesting birds to be both highly aggressive and colorful, so we study how male-like traits can evolve within the hormonal constraints of the female body. Also, because we have been following the same populations for 18 years, we can use long-term data sets to understand adaptation to climate change and other anthropogenic stressors.

In addition to wild birds, we also study the conservation of Eastern hellbenders, the signaling function of colorful integuments of salamanders and algal-salamander egg symbioses.

Selected Publications

• Gow, E., L. Siefferman, et al. 2018. A range-wide domino effect and resetting of the annual cycle in a migratory songbird. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 286: 20181916. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2018.1916

• Burdick, C., and L. Siefferman. 2020. Interspecific competition influences the adaptive significance of provisioning coordination between breeding partners. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2020.00029

• Siefferman, L., A. Bentz, and K. Rosvall. 2023. Decoupling pioneering traits from latitudinal patterns in a North American bird experiencing a southward range shift. Journal of Animal Ecology. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13907

• Surmacki, A., L. Siefferman, and A. Plackowska. 2023. Avian nuptial plumage coloration changes differently when exposed to urban and rural areas. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 77: 129. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-023-03404-9

• Rolland, V., S. L. Balenger, J. L. Grindstaff, and L. Siefferman. 2024. Natural selection after severe winter favors larger and duller bluebirds. The American Naturalist, 204(6). https://doi.org/10.1086/732818

• Ortega, F. J., L. Siefferman, and M. Gangloff. 2026. Finding hellbenders (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis): A comparison of diurnal rock-lifting and nocturnal dive-lighting surveys. Herpetological Conservation and Biology, 21(2): 255-263.