The Insect Physiology & Behavior Research Group (IPBRG), headed by Spence Behmer, studies insect physiology and behavior, including their ecological and evolutionary bases. Our approach is "bottom-up", with an emphasis on using individual behavior as a tool to understand physiological and higher-level processes. Our lab pursues three broadly defined areas of research:

     1) physiological ecology

     2) insect sterol (cholesterol) biology

     3) mechanisms of learning

We use a number of different insects in our research, including grasshoppers, caterpillars, aphids and ants.

Please explore our site and feel free to contact us if you have any questions. Prospective students and postdocs can click here to learn more about opportunities in the lab.

Post oak grasshoppers are emerging...have you seen any?

Check out our PNAS paper on species coexistence via unique nutritional feeding niches.

Steve Cook joins the lab as a Postdoctoral Research Associate.

Behmer, S.T. and Joern, A. (2008) Coexisting generalist herbivores occupy unique
     nutritional feeding niches. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
     USA 105, 1977-1982. [pdf]

Pompilio, L., Kacelnik, A. and Behmer, S.T. (2006) State-dependent learned valuation
     drives choice in an invertebrate. Science 313, 1613-1615. [pdf]

Warbrick-Smith, J., Behmer, S.T., Lee, K.P., Raubenheimer, D. and Simpson, S.J.
     (2006) Evolving resistance to obesity in an insect. Proceedings of the National
     Academy of Sciences, USA 103, 14045-14049. [pdf]

Behmer, S.T. and Nes, W.D. (2003) Insect sterol nutrition and physiology: a global
     overview. Advances in Insect Physiology 31, 1-72. [pdf]

Behmer, S.T., Simpson, S.J. and Raubenheimer, D. (2002) Herbivore foraging in
     chemically heterogeneous environments: nutrients and secondary metabolites.
     Ecology 83, 2489-2501. [pdf]

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