Darrell Kemp

Interests

I am broadly interested in the evolution and ecology of sexual reproduction. My research blends quantitative genetics, developmental biology, physiology and behavioural ecology and addresses questions relating to the evolution of mating strategies, contest behaviour, mate choice and sexual signalling. I choose model organisms appropriate to answering these questions, and have worked particularly with butterflies, wasps, flies and guppies. I use a range of observational and experimental methods designed to test theoretical hypotheses, and incorporate quantitative genetics and interdisciplinary conceptual perspectives (i.e., life history perspectives of sexual selection) to illuminate the evolution of sexual traits and behaviours.

Specific (interrelated) research themes:

1. The evolution of colour signals. I seek to understand how and why animal colour patterns evolve, particularly conspicuously bright mating signals, and particularly signals based upon iridescent structural colouration. Much of my work in this arena has sought to address the hypothesis that unique ‘design’ features of structural colouration may predispose it as an indicator of genetic and/or phenotypic mate quality. I have also worked collaboratively to examine the evolution of guppy colour patterns under shifting regimes of sexual and natural selection.
2. Ultimate and proximate influences upon phenotypic diversity.  I have an enduring interest in understanding the evolution of intraspecific phenotypic variation, including sexual dimorphism (differences between the sexes) and phenotypic plasticity (differences among individuals within a sex). A focus of this research concerns the condition-dependence of male sexual traits; a form of phenotypic plasticity in which trait expression is linked with the phenotypic condition of its bearer, and which is predicted to evolve under prevailing models of sexual selection.
3. Male territoriality and contest behaviour. Aerial contests among territorial insects such as butterflies, flies and wasps present an interesting theoretical case because contest costs, such as directed injury, are unclear.  I seek to understand the evolution of contest resolution in these cases, and more generally, to integrate a life history-based viewpoint into studies of animal contest behaviour.
4. Host-endosymbiont evolutionary dynamics.  An emerging research theme deals with the reproductive manipulations of bacterial endosymbionts (such as Wolbachia) upon their insect hosts. I am particularly interested in Wolbachia-mediated feminisation of genetic male butterflies as a system for understanding insect sex determination, sexual differentiation, and host-endosymbiont evolutionary dynamics.

Recent Publications

Kemp DJ (2008) Resource-mediated condition dependence in sexually dichromatic butterfly wing colouration. Evolution 62: 2346-2358

Kemp DJ, Reznick DN, Grether GF (2008) Ornamental evolution in Trinidadian guppies (Poecilia reticulata): insights from sensory processing-based analyses of entire color patterns. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 95: 734-747

Kemp DJ (2008) Female mating biases for bright ultraviolet iridescence in the butterfly Eurema hecabe (Pieridae). Behavioral Ecology 19: 1-9.

Kemp DJ, Rutowski RL (2007) Condition-dependence, quantitative genetics and the potential signal content of iridescent ultraviolet butterfly coloration. Evolution 61: 168-183.

Kemp DJ (2007) Female butterflies prefer males bearing bright iridescent ornamentation. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London (B) 274: 1043-1047.