Publications
2019
Ramsey ME, Fry D, Cummings ME. 2019. Isotocin increases female avoidance of males in a coercive mating system: Assessing the social salience hypothesis of oxytocin in a fish species. Hormones and Behavior, 112:1-9. [PDF]
Reding L, Cummings ME. 2019. Rational choice of social group size in mosquitofish. Biology Letters, 15: 20180693. [doi: 10.1098/cz/zoy043] [PDF]
2018
Cummings ME, Endler JA. 2018. 25 Years of Sensory Drive: the evidence and its watery bias. Current Zoology, 64(4): 471-484. [doi: 10.1093/cz/zoy043] [PDF]
Reding L, Cummings ME. 2018. Rational mate choice decisions vary with female age and multidimensional male signals in swordtails. Ethology, 124: 641-649. [doi: 10.1111/eth.12769] [PDF]
Cummings ME. 2018. Sexual conflict and sexually dimorphic cognition—reviewing their relationship in poeciliid fishes Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 72:73. [doi.org/10.1007/s00265-018-2483-9] [PDF]
Etheredge RI, Avenas C, Armstrong M, Cummings ME. 2018. Sex-specific cognitive–behavioural profiles emerging from individual variation in numerosity discrimination in Gambusia affinis. Animal Cognition, 21:37-53. [doi:10.1007/s10071-017-1134-2] [PDF]
2017
Dreher CE, Rodriquez A, Cummings ME, Pröhl H. 2017. Mating status correlates with dorsal brightness in some but not all poison frog populations. Ecology and Evolution, 7:10503-10512. [PDF]
Reding L & Cummings ME. 2017. Context-dependent preferences vary by multicomponent signals in a swordtail. Animal Behaviour, 129: 237-247. [doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2017.05.017] [PDF]
Brock CD, Cummings ME, Bolnick DI. 2017. Phenotypic plasticity drives a depth gradient in male conspicuousness in threespine stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus. Evolution, 71: 2022–2036. [doi:10.1111/evo.13282] [PDF]
Friesen C, Ramsey MR, Cummings ME. 2017. Differential sensitivity to estrogen-induced opsin expression in two poeciliid freshwater fish species. General and Comparative Endocrinology, 246:200-210. [doi:/10.1016/j.ygcen.2016.12. 009] [PDF]
2016
Crothers LC, Saporito RA, Yeager J, Lynch K, Friesen C, Richards-Zawacki C, McGraw K, Cummings ME. 2016. Warning signal properties covary with toxicity but not testosterone or aggregate carotenoids in a poison frog. Evolutionary Ecology, 30:601-621. [doi:10.1007/s10682-016-9830-y] [PDF]
Brady P, Gilerson AA, Kattawar GW, Sullivan JM, Twardowski MS, Dierssen HM, Cummings ME. 2016. Response to Comment on “Open-ocean fish reveal an omnidirectional solution to camouflage in polarized environments”. Science, 353: (6299), 552. [doi: 10.1126/science.aaf5018] [PDF]
Gu Y, Carrizo C, Gilerson AA, Brady PC, Cummings ME, Twardowski MS, Sullivan JM, Ibrahim AI, Kattawar GW. 2016. Polarimetric imaging and retrieval of target polarization characteristics in underwater environment. Applied Optics, 55, 626-637. [doi:10:1364/AO.55.000626] [PDF]
Reding, L. & Cummings, M. E. 2016. Does sensory expansion benefit asexual species? An olfactory discrimination test in Amazon mollies. Behavioral Ecology, 27, 441-418. [doi:10.1093/beheco/arv168] [PDF]
2015
Brady, P. C., Gilerson, A. A., Kattawar, G. W., Sullivan, J. M., Twardowski, M. S., Diersen, H. M., Gao, M., Travis, K., Etheredge, R. I., Tonizzo, A., Ibrahim, A., Carrizo, C., Gu, Y., Russel, B. J., Mislinski, K., Zhao, S., Cummings, M. E. 2015. Open-ocean fish reveal an omnidirectional solution to camouflage in polarized environments. Science, 350, 965-968. doi: 10.1126/science.aad5284 [PDF]
Cummings, M. E., & Ramsey, M. E. 2015. Mate choice as social cognition: predicting female behavioral and neural plasticity as a function of alternative male reproductive tactics. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 6:125-131. doi:10.1016/j.cobeha.2015.10.001. [PDF]
Crothers, L.C., Cummings, M.E. 2015. A multifunctional warning signal behaves as an agonistic status signal in a poison frog. Behavioral Ecology, 26 (2): 560-568. doi:10.1093/beheco/aru231 [PDF]
Wang, S., Cummings, M.E., Kirkpatrick, M. 2015. Coevolution of male courtship and sexual conflict characters in mosquitofish. Behavioral Ecology, doi:10.1093/beheco/arv049, 1-8. [PDF]
Dreher, C.E., Cummings, M.E., Prohl, H. 2015. An analysis of predator selection to affect aposematic coloration in a poison frog species. PLoS ONE, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0130571 [PDF]
Cummings, M. 2015. The mate choice mind: studying mate preference, aversion and social cognition in the female poeciliid brain. Animal Behaviour 103: 249-258. [PDF]
Zhao, S., Brady, P., Gao, M., Etheredge, R.I., Kattawar, G.W., Cummings, M.E. 2015. Broadband and polarization reflectors in the lookdown, Selene vomer. J. R. Soc. Interface 12: 20141390. [PDF]
2014
Calabrese, G., Brady, P., Gruev, V., Cummings, M.E. 2014. Polarization signaling in swordtails alters female mate preference. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 111: 13397-13402. [PDF]
Wong, R.Y., Cummings, M.E. 2014. Expression patterns of neuroligin-3 and tyrosine hydroxylase across the brain in mate choice contexts in female swordtails. Brain, Behavior and Evolution 83: 231-243. [PDF]
Ramsey, M.E., Vu, W. & Cummings, M.E. 2014. Testing synaptic plasticity in dynamic mate choice decisions: N-methyl d-aspartate receptor blockade disrupts female preference. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 281: 20140047. [PDF]
Wang, S.M.T., Ramsey, M.E. & Cummings, M.E. 2014. Plasticity of the mate choice mind: coutship evokes choice-like brain responses in females from a coercive mating system. Genes, Brain & Behavior 13: 365-375. [PDF]
2013
Ryan M.J and Cummings M.E. 2013. Perceptual biases and mate choice. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics 44: 437-459. [PDF]
Cummings M.E. & Crothers L.R. 2013. Interacting selection diversifies warning signals in a polytypic frog: an examination with the strawberry poison frog. Evolutionary Ecology 27: 693-710. [PDF]
Brady P., Travis K., Maginnis T. & Cummings M.E. 2013. The polaro-cryptic mirror: a biological adaptation for open-ocean camouflage. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 110: 9764-9769. [PDF]
Crothers L.C. & Cummings M.E. 2013. Warning signal brightness variation: sexual selection may work under the radar of natural selection in populations of a polytypic poison frog. The American Naturalist 181(5): E116-E124. doi: 10.1086/670010. [PDF]
Gilerson A.A., Stepinski J., Ibrahim A.I., You Y., Sullivan J.M., Twardowski M.S., Dierssen H.M., Russell B., Cummings M.E., Brady P., Ahmed S.A. & Kattawar G.W. 2013. Benthic effects on the polarization of light in shallow waters. Applied Optics 52(36): 8685-8700. [PDF]
Kueltz D., Clayton D.F., Robinson G.E., Albertson C., Carey H.V., Cummings M.E., Dewar K., Edwards S.V., Hofmann H.A., Gross L.J., Kingsolver J.G., Meaney M.J., Schlinger B.A., Shingleton A.W., Sokolowski M.B., Somero G.N., Stanzione D.C., Todgham A.E. 2013 New frontiers for organismal biology. BioScience 63: 464-471. [PDF]
Veilleux C.C., Jacobs R.L., Cummings M.E., Louis E.E., Bolnick D.A. 2013. Opsin genes and visual ecology in a nocturnal folivorous lemur. International Journal of Primatology DOI 10.1007/s10764-013-9708-6. [PDF]
Twomey E., Yeager J., Brown J.L., Morales V., Cummings M.E. & Summers K. 2013. Phenotypic and genetic divergence among poison frog populations. PLoS ONE 8(2): e55443. [PDF]
2012
Cummings M.E. 2012. Looking for sexual selection in the female brain. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 367:2348-2356. [PDF]
Ramsey M.E., Maginnis T.L., Wong R.Y., Brock C. & Cummings M.E. 2012. Identifying context-specific gene profiles of social, reproductive and mate preference behavior in a fish species with female mate choice. Frontiers in Neuroscience 6:62. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2012.00062 (link to paper).
Lynch K.S., Ramsey M.E. & Cummings M.E. 2012. The mate choice brain: comparing gene profiles between female choice and male coercive poeciliids. Genes, Brain and Behavior 11:222-229. [PDF]
Maan M.E. & Cummings M.E. 2012. Poison frog colors are honest signals of toxicity- particularly for bird predators. The American Naturalist Vol. 179, No. 1, pp. E1-E14. [PDF]
Wong R.Y., Ramsey M.E. & Cummings M.E. 2012. Localizing brain regions associated with female mate preference behavior in a swordtail. PLoS ONE 7(11) e50355. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0050355 (link to paper).
Veilleux C.C., Cummings M.E. 2012. Nocturnal light environments and species ecology: implications for nocturnal color vision in forests. Journal of Experimental Biology 215:4085-4096. [PDF]
Yeager J., Brown J.L., Morales V., Cummings M.E. & Summers K. 2012. Testing for selection on color and pattern in a mimetic radiation. Current Zoology 58(4):668-676. [PDF]
2011
You Y., Tonizzo A., Gilersonn A.A., Cummings M.E., Brady P., Sullivan J M., Twardowski M.S., Dierssen H.M. Ahmed S.A., & Kattawar G.W. 2011. Measurements and simulations of polarization states of underwater light in clear oceanic waters. Applied Optics 50: 4873-4893. [PDF]
Wong R.Y, So P., & Cummings M.E. 2011. How female size and male displays influence mate preference in a swordtail. Animal Behaviour 82: 691-697. [PDF]
Ramsey M.E., Wong R.Y. & Cummings M.E. 2011. Estradiol, reproductive cycle and preference behavior in a northern swordtail. General and Comparative Endocrinology 170: 381-390. [PDF]
Richards-Zawacki C.L. & Cummings M.E. 2011. Intraspecific reproductive character displacement in a polymorphic poison dart frog, Dendrobates pumilio. Evolution 65: 259-267. [PDF]
Crothers L., Gering E. & Cummings, M.E. 2011. Aposematic signal variation predicts male-male interactions in a polymorphic poison frog. Evolution 65: 599-605. [PDF]
2010
Brady P. & Cummings M.E. 2010. Differential Response to Circularly Polarized Light by the
Jewel Scarab Beetle Chrysina gloriosa. The American Naturalist 175(5): 614-620. [PDF]
Brown J.L., Maan M.E., Cummings M.E., & Summers K. 2010. Evidence for selection on coloration in a Panamanian poison frog: a coalescent-based approach. Journal of Biogeography 37: 891-901. [PDF]
2009
Maan M.E. & Cummings M.E. 2009. Sexual dimorphism and directional sexual selection on aposematic signals in a poison frog. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 106: 19072-19077. [PDF]
Cummings M.E. & Gelineau-Kattner R. 2009. The energetic costs of alternative male reproductive strategies in Xiphophorus nigrensis. Journal of Comparative Physiology A 195: 935-46. [PDF]
2008
Cummings M.E., Larkins-Ford J., Reilly C.R.L., Wong R., Ramsey M.R., & Hofmann H.A. 2008. Sexual and social stimuli elicit rapid and contrasting genomic responses. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 275: 393-402. [PDF]
Maan M.E. & Cummings M.E. 2008. Female preferences for aposematic signal components in a polymorphic poison frog. Evolution 62-9: 2334-2345. [PDF]
Cummings M.E., Bernal X.E., Reynaga R., Rand A.S., & Ryan M.J. 2008. Visual sensitivity to conspicuous male cue varies by reproductive state in Physalaemus pustulosus females. Journal of Experimental Biology 211: 1203-1210. [PDF]
Cummings M.E., Jordao J.M., Cronin T.W., & Oliveira R.F. 2008. Visual ecology of the fiddler crab, Uca tangeri: effects of sex, viewer and background on conspicuousness. Animal Behaviour 75: 175-188. [PDF]
2007
Cummings M.E. 2007. Sensory trade-offs predicts signal divergence in surfperch. Evolution 61 (3): 530-545. [PDF]
Cummings M.E.& Johnsen S. 2007. Light, Effects of. In: Encyclopedia of Tidepools and Rocky Shores. Denny, M., Gaines, S. (Eds). University of California Press p325-329. [PDF]
2006
Darst CR. & Cummings M.E. 2006.Predator learning favors mimicry of a less toxic model in poison frogs. Nature 440: 208-211. [PDF]
Darst C.R., Cummings M.E. & Cannatella D.C. 2006.A mechanism for diversity in warning signals: conspicuousness versus toxicity in poison frogs. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 103: 5852-5857. [PDF]
Cummings M.E. & Mollaghan D.M. 2006.Repeatability and consistency of female preference behaviours in a northern swordtail, Xiphophorus nigrensis. Animal Behaviour 72: 217-224. [PDF]
Cummings M.E., Garcia de Leon F.J., Mollaghan D.M. & Ryan M.J. 2006.Is UV ornamentation an amplifier in swordtails? Zebrafish 3:91-100. [PDF]
2005
Grether G.G., Cummings M.E.& Hudon J. 2005.Countergradient variation in the sexual coloration of guppies (Poecilia reticulata): droserpterin synthesis balances carotenoid availability. Evolution 59: 175-188 [PDF]
Ryan M.J. & Cummings M.E.2005.Animal signals and the overlooked costs of efficacy. Evolution 59: 1160-1161 [PDF]
2004
Cummings M.E. 2004.Modelling divergence in luminance and chromatic detectionperformances across measured divergence in surfperch (Embiotocidae) habitats. Vision Research 44:1127-1145. [PDF]
2003
Cummings M.E., Rosenthal G.G. & Ryan M.J. 2003.A private ultraviolet channel in visual communication. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 270: 897-904. [PDF]
Cummings M.E. & Zimmerman R.C. 2003. Light harvesting and the package effect in the seagrasses Thalassia testudinum Konig and Zostera marina L.: Optical constraints on photoacclimation. Aquatic Botany 75: 264-274. [PDF]
2001
Cummings M.E. & Partridge J.C. 2001. Visual pigments and optical habitats of surfperch (Embiotocidae) in the California kelp forest. Journal of Comparative Physiology A 187: 875-889. [PDF]
1999
Partridge J.C. & Cummings M.E. 1999. Adaptation of visual pigments to the aquatic environment. In: Adaptive Mechanisms in the Ecology of Vision. Archer, S.N., Damgoz, M.B.A., Loew, E.R., Partridge, J.C., Valerga S. (Eds) Kluwer Academic Publishers. Great Britain. Pp. 251-283. [PDF]
