Sept. 9: Brian Kennedy, Ocean Discovery League, “Deep sea ecosystems and the
impacts of deep sea mining”
Oct. 14: Stephanie Baker, 51������, “Public health: the invisible shield…until it breaks”
Nov. 11: Johnny Randall, NC Botanical Garden, “Invasive plants in North Carolina:
when, why, and where?”
Dec. 9: Hope Blanchard, Sunrise Community Farm Center, “The science behind outdoor education”

For more information about Tectonic Plates, contact Dave Gammon, TE Powell Jr professor and professor of biology at Elon.

Mockingbirds and other vocal mimics are famous for making the sounds of other species, such as cardinals, blue jays, treefrogs, and mourning doves. But when a young mockingbird learns to sing like a cardinal, does he copy an actual cardinal (primary mimicry) or does he copy a mockingbird that already makes cardinal sounds (secondary mimicry)?

Over the last decade, Dave Gammon, TE Powell Jr professor and professor of Biology, has worked with Gabi Resh ’17 and other research students to create and use methods for distinguishing whether mimetic song is primary vs secondary mimicry. Gammon recently presented their research at the .

Gammon and Resh published their research in the journal  and in a .

Imagine you were a young mockingbird that recently hatched and was ready to learn new songs. You would hear plenty of songs from the tufted titmouse, but you would also hear those same titmouse songs being imitated by other mockingbirds. If you learn directly from the titmice then Gammon and Resh would call it primary mimicry. If you learned titmouse songs from other mockingbirds, however, it would be called secondary mimicry.

The main value of Gammon and Resh’s article is that it provides an empirical framework that can be used by field biologists to identify secondary mimicry, even when the learning cannot be observed directly. This framework can now get used by scholars studying vocal mimicry in other bird species. Gammon and Resh also provided a variety of evidence that local mockingbirds use secondary mimicry to develop at least a portion of their mimetic songs.

The article can be found at the or on . If you prefer pretty pictures and tantalizing sounds, you can also watch a that summarizes the research.

On the second Tuesday of each month, a different scientist will present engaging science at Burlington Beer Works in downtown Burlington beginning at 7 p.m.

All Tectonic Plates events are free and open to the public, and attendees can expect a lively event in a relaxed atmosphere without all the technical jargon. Tectonic Plates runs from September through May.

• Jan. 9: Megan Millard, Animal Park, Enrichment at the Animal Park
• Feb. 13: Nic Halchin, Halchin Hives, How bees make honey
• March 12: Matt Wittstein, 51������, Syncing sweat: understanding fitness devices, data, and health
• April 9: David Dasher, Alamance Dermatology, Skin cancer 101
• May 14: Shannon Duvall, 51������, ChatGPT—what’s all the fuss?

For more information about Tectonic Plates, contact Dave Gammon, Elon professor of biology.

• Sep 12: Cindy Bennett, 51������, Hocus Pocus: the magic of point-of-care ultrasound
• Oct 10: Ariana Eily, 51������, Beauty in science
• Nov 14: Lee Atkinson, Meanstride Technology, Inc. and Alamance Maker’s Guild, COVID shields: Makers to the rescue!
• Dec 12: Amanda Venable, Forensics scientist at Triad Crime Lab, What’s brewing at the NC State Crime Lab: Facts, Myths, and Misconceptions

For more information about Tectonic Plates, contact Dave Gammon, professor of biology at Elon.

As with all Tectonic Plates events, there is no entry fee and event goers can expect a lively event in a relaxed atmosphere without all the technical jargon. Tectonic Plates meets every second Tuesday from September through May.

Spring 2023 schedule

• Jan 10: Jochen Fischer, US Hang Gliding & Paragliding Association, Hike and fly with a leading-edge paraglider
• Feb 14: Jessica Merricks, 51������, Love languages in the animal kingdom
• Mar 14: Erica Bower & Rachael Brooks, Alamance-Burlington School System, Why Pi?
• Apr 11: Janet Cope, Cindy Bennett & Dianne Person, 51������, Elon’s Anatomical Gift Program
• May 9: Eryn Bernardy, 51������, Germ warfare at the cellular level

All Tectonic Plates events are free and open to the public, and you can expect a lively event in a relaxed atmosphere without all the technical jargon. Tectonic Plates runs from September through May.

Events for the fall semester are:

• Sep 13: Mary McManamy (51������) – Burgers, Chemically Speaking
• Oct 11: Thomas Gaither (Slippery Rock University) – Slime molds and civil rights: one man’s living legacy
• Nov 8: Dianne Person (51������) Elon’s Anatomical Gift Program
• Dec 13: Jeremy Hunt (Burlington Beer Works) – The Science Behind Fermentation

Dave Gammon, a professor of biology at 51������, listened to Stracey’s recordings and discovered that female mockingbirds also imitate the sounds of other species. Compared to males, females mimic a set of model species, but less frequently and with less variety. The function of female mimicry remains obscure.

Gammon and Stracey’s research is published in the Journal of Ornithology and can be found at .

Last year, Professor of Biology Dave Gammon joined a research collaboration with two other field biologists to find out how mockingbirds respond to common nest predators, such as cats, crows and snakes. Gammon, Kirstie Savage (TruHearing, Draper, Utah) and Christine Stracey (Guilford College) are conducting studies on the campus of 51������ that follow up on the observations Stracey made of mockingbirds in Florida during her dissertation research.

Gammon and his collaborators recently discovered that mockingbirds use different alarm calls to refer to each type of predator. Specifically, mockingbirds “chat” for the cats, “scream” at the crows and “chuck” for the snakes. They demonstrated these results through both a field experiment and a complementary study in which data were sampled from YouTube videos.

It is rare for field biologists to sample their research data from YouTube, even though the total archive of YouTube videos grows by 7,500 hours of new content every 15 minutes, and over 250 million hours of content every year. YouTube therefore represents an exciting new opportunity for animal researchers.

Gammon participated in the following research presentations at the annual meetings of the Animal Behavior Society, which took place July 19-23, 2022 in San Jose, Costa Rica:

• Gammon DE, Stracey CM, and Savage KM. Sampling behavioral data from YouTube: a case study on how mockingbirds respond to nest predators
• Stracey CM, Savage KM, and Gammon DE. Northern Mockingbirds Produce Different Alarm Calls For Different Predators: An Experimental Test

Survey data show that nearly all public resistance to human evolution is motivated by religion, at least in part. Believers and nonbelievers often perceive a fundamental conflict between creation and evolution.

In his , Gammon asserts that accepting both evolution and creation is possible and mutually beneficial. He says, “As a devout Christian and an active biologist, I assert to my fellow believers that evolutionary theory can be an asset, not a liability, to our faith.”

His article focuses on three powerful insights into the biological aspects of human nature that are explained well by evolutionary theory. These evolutionary insights ultimately enhance the Christian perspective through providing a deeper understanding of human sexuality, family relationships, and how to get along with others. Gammon argues that “societal acceptance of human evolution does not preclude the need for faith-based solutions to modern dilemmas. The ideal society includes a vibrant partnership between science and religion. As Einstein observed, ‘Science without religion is lame.’”

Link to article: