Professional Interests:

My research focuses on understanding how the processes of natural and sexual selection shape physiological and morphological traits. Specifically, I am interested in how hormones link animals to their biotic and abiotic environments through the regulation of performance traits important to fitness. To accomplish this, I integrate theory and techniques from physiology, evolutionary ecology, animal behavior, and functional morphology, and I combine laboratory experiments with correlative studies of natural populations. I primarily work with reptiles as model systems, and I conduct research in the southwestern US and the Caribbean. Some of my current projects include:

• How steroid hormones mediate performance in lizards
• How endocrine systems regulate social behavior in Caribbean Anolis lizards
• Direct and indirect effects of sexually selected traits on animal performance
• Examining performance consequences of muscle fiber composition in lizards

Representative publications:

• Husak, J. F., and J. G. Swallow. 2011. Compensatory traits and the evolution of male ornaments. Behaviour 148:1-29.
• Husak, J. F., S. D. McCormick, D. J. Irschick, and I. T. Moore. 2009. Hormonal regulation of whole-animal performance: implications for selection. Integrative and Comparative Biology 49:349-353.
• Husak, J. F., and I. T. Moore. 2008. Stress hormones and mate choice. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 23:532-534.
• Husak, J. F., and S. F. Fox. 2008. Sexual selection on locomotor performance. Evolutionary Ecology Research 10:213-228.
• Husak, J. F., D. J. Irschick, J. J. Meyers, S. P. Lailvaux, and I. T. Moore. 2007. Hormones, sexual signals and performance of green anole lizards (Anolis carolinensis). Hormones and Behavior 52:360-367.