My interests lie at the interface between behavior, evolution and ecology. My research focuses on animal communication. I address questions about signal function and evolution by performing experiments within a naturalistic context.

My main research goals are to understand the evolution of heterospecific eavesdropping, and establish the role of natural selection in constraining the evolution of mating signals. To do this I plan to integrate techniques to study behavior with anatomy, physiology, parasitology and phylogenetics.

Other topics of interests in the lab include sexual differences in perception of signals, learning in toads, factors affecting female mating decisions, and other themes on evolutionary ecology. Although most of my research has been with anurans, I am open to working with any other species that provide good models for questions on behavioral ecology.

NEWS and Updates

June 2011 - Amanda launched her educational website "Adventures in Toading". Check out this amazing website to learn about her research, frogs from Gamboa and find great activities for kids!

June 2011 - Ximena was appointed as a Research Associate at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. It is exciting to be officially part of STRI after working in Panama for about 10 years!

May 2011 - Amanda and Priyanka each got an Outstanding TA Award for the spring 2011.  Ladies, great job teaching!!

May 2011 - Kudos to Lynne (above left) and Amanda (above right) who both won a TTUAB Grant-in-Aid. What a great way to wrap-up their first year as graduate students!

April 2011 - Congrats to Priyanka de Silva and Lynne Beaty who won first and second place at the poster competition at the TTUABSS.

Feb 2011 - Congratulations to Amanda Arner who has been chosen as a HHMI Graduate Teaching Scholar!

Aug 2010 - Congratulations to Lynne Beaty who has won the AT&T's Chancellor's Fellowship, a highly competitive fellowship awarded to incoming graduate students.

April 2010 - Congrats to Erik Galindo that has been selected as a HHMI Scholar. Erik was also accepted for an internship at the NIDDK STEP-UP & NIH program this summer! This program is a collaborative effort between the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to expose underrepresented minorities to research. Kudos to Erik!

March 2010 - Lynne Beaty has been offered an RAship and a fellowship to come to TTU and  she will be joining our lab in the fall 2010!

August 2009  ̶  New Female Faculty Member at TTU

Ximena E. Bernal
Texas Tech University
Department of Biological Science
Box 43131
Lubbock, TX. 79409-3131