Research
Interests
My
primary interest is understanding how structural and biochemical changes
within the brain regulate behavior. One effective method for investigating
this process is the exploitation of naturally occurring differences in
behaviors. We study courtship and copulatory displays because they are
stereotyped, sexually differentiated, and in many species displayed seasonally.
Therefore, we can evaluate mechanisms regulating the behaviors within
a sex in and out of the breeding season, as well as between the two sexes.
In particular, members of my lab are working with two model systems, zebra
finches and green anole lizards.
Zebra
finches have become a classic model for investigating sex differences
in brain and behavior. Males sing to court females, whereas females do
not normally sing, and in parallel the brain regions and muscles that
control song are larger in males than in females. We are investigating
the mechanisms involved in creating the behavioral and anatomical differences
between the sexes, including gene expression, gonadal steroid hormones
(including their receptors and metabolizing enzymes), and neural growth
factors.
Like
zebra finches, green anole lizards display highly sexually dimorphic courtship
behaviors. Males extend a bright red throat fan called a dewlap. Females
have only a rudimentary dewlap, and while they use it in a limited fashion
during aggressive encounters, females do not display the dewlap during
reproduction. The neurons and muscles controlling this behavior are larger
in males than in females. Similarly, the structures controlling male copulation
are highly sexually dimorphic. Our current research on the lizards involves
investigations of the influences of steroid hormones during development
and in adulthood on both morphology and behavior in these two reproductive
systems.
Please
feel free to contact me if you have any questions about my research.
Selected
Publications
Search all publications in the NCBI Journal Database
Wade, J., Tang Y.P., Peabody, C.P. and Tempelman, R.J. (2005) Enhanced gene expression in the forebrain of hatchling and juvenile male zebra finches. J. Neurobiol. 64:224-248.
Holmes, M.M. and Wade, J. (2005) Sexual differentiation of the copulatory neuromuscular system in green anoles (Anolis carolinensis): Normal ontogeny and manipulation of steroid hormones. J. Comp. Neurol. 489:480-490.
Wade, J. (2005) Current research on the behavioral neuroendocrinology of reptiles. Horm. Behav. 48:451-460.
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Juli
S. Wade