JEFFREY R. LUCAS

      My research program has focused on two general areas: the dynamics of animal decision-making and (more recently) animal communication. Much of the work in behavioral ecology is based on the fundamental assumption that the evolution of behavior reflects a balance between the costs and benefits associated with any given behavior pattern; thus a study of costs and benefits should provide an understanding of the factors that regulate the evolution of that behavior. It is not a trivial matter, however, simply to enumerate all relevant costs and benefits of any behavior, better yet to understand how those costs and benefits combine to regulate the evolution of behavior. To this end, we have been developing models of animal decision-making processes and developing tests of the predictions of these models. My interest in animal communication began with an extension of my research on the effect of physiological state on foraging decisions, and has since become more focused on both the ecological aspects of communication and on mechanisms of signal reception.