Zachary Emberts, Assistant Professor
Behavioral ecology, macroevolution, insects
Ph.D., 2019, University of Florida
Office: LSW 206
Email: emberts@okstate.edu
Lab website: Emberts lab
Specific Interests
The research program for the lab broadly focuses on understanding why animals look and behave the way that they do. We generally approach this by combining experimental manipulations with phylogenetic comparative methods, and we almost always use insects as our study organisms. Topics currently being investigated in the lab include (1) fighting behavior and weapon evolution, (2) wing evolution and flight, and (3) the diversification of reproductive organs.
Selected Publications (full list here)
- Emberts, Z, and JJ Wiens. 2021. Do sexually selected weapons drive diversification? Evolution 75:2411-2424.
- Emberts, Z, and JJ Wiens. 2021. Defensive structures influence fighting outcomes. Functional Ecology 35:696–704.
- Emberts, Z, WS Hwang, and JJ Wiens. 2021. Weapon performance drives weapon evolution. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 288:20202898.
- Emberts, Z, CM St. Mary, CC Howard, M Forthman, PW Bateman, U Somjee, WS Hwang, D Li, R Kimball, and CW Miller. 2020. The evolution of autotomy in leaf-footed bugs. Evolution 74:897–910.
- Joseph, PN, Z Emberts, DA Sasson, and CW Miller. 2018. Males that drop a sexually selected weapon grow larger testes. Evolution 72:113–122.