Sharon Lynn

Department/Affiliation: Biology
Phone: 330-263-2437
Office Address: 208 Mateer
Email: slynn@wooster.edu
Web Site: Sharon Lynn

Degrees

• B.S., South Carolina 1996
• Ph.D., Washington 2002

Courses Taught

• IDPT 101: First Year Seminar
• BIOL 202: Gateway to Ecology, Evolution & Organismal Biology
• BIOL 344: Comparative Animal Physiology
• BIOL 377: Behavioral Endocrinology
• IDPT 199: The Global HIV/AIDS Crisis

Projects in Progress

Hormone-behavior interactions fascinate me from both a mechanistic standpoint and an evolutionary standpoint. Most of my work focuses on birds, and I currently study free-living eastern bluebirds, and captive zebra finches. Together, my students and I are using these systems to address the following overarching research questions: 

Ecological endocrinology of stress and reproduction in wild Eastern Bluebirds in Northeast Ohio (ongoing project at C.O.W). This project wil l be entering its fifth year. The focus in the past year has been on (1) feather development and nutrition, and (2) development of the stress response in chicks under normal conditions and under conditions of repeated exposure to mild, acute stressors. We continue to track breeding pairs, nests, chick development, and individual return rates yearsly at ~70 nestboxes placed around northeast Ohio.

Effects of acute stress on reproductive physiology and behavior of males (ongoing project at C.O.W.). This project has many facets, and the main focus has been birds in my zebra finch colony.