Josie Fornara

Email:

jfornara@iu.edu

Campus:

IU Bloomington

I am a fourth-year PhD student and NSF Graduate Research Fellow interested in the internal and external drivers of territorial aggression in free-living tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor). Specifically, my dissertation asks how organismal physiology and lived experience come together to shape individual differences in behavior. To address this question, I am leveraging hormonal manipulation experiments in the field alongside 10+ years of behavioral and demographic data from a single tree swallow population.

Outside of my dissertation research, I am applying this same integrative lens to probe the mechanistic underpinnings of organismal resilience. To do this, I experimentally block certain hormone signals in wild-caught birds (Melospiza melodia), then I collect physiological and behavioral data to see how the brain and/or body compensate for this disruption. I am also using RNA-seq data to investigate shared transcriptomic responses to environmental and social challenges, a collaborative effort that promises to shed light on pathways that may facilitate or constrain adaptive responses to a changing world.

I earned my B.A. from Ohio Wesleyan University in 2023. As an undergraduate, I studied anti-predator behavior in house wrens (Troglodytes aedon) and nesting ecology in black-throated sparrows (Amphispiza bilineata) under the mentorship of Dr. Dustin Reichard and Dr. Laurie Anderson. Outside the lab, I can be found working on DIY projects, being active outdoors, or playing with my dog.