Neuroethology & Behavioral Ecology Faculty

We investigate causal, developmental, functional, and evolutionary aspects of animal behavior. This includes analyzing genetic,
neural and psychological mechanisms underlying behavior, as well as their evolutionary consequences in terms of speciation and diversification. Research is conducted both in laboratory and field populations.

Within OEB, we focus primarily on animal systems other than humans, including the neurobiology of learning and memory, the behavioral ecology of species interactions, mating behavior and its role in species divergence, and perceptions involved in social interactions.

Benjamin L. de Bivort

Associate Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology

d ebivort@oeb.harvard.edu
de Bivort Lab

Discovering why individuals behave uniquely by linking automated quantification of behavior to variation at the molecular, cellular and neural circuit levels

Scott V. Edwards

Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology
Curator of Ornithology in the Museum of Comparative Zoology
Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology in the Museum of Comparative Zoology
Co-Director of Graduate Studies

sedwards@fas.harvard.edu
Edwards Lab

Evolutionary biology of birds and relatives, combining field, museum and genomics approaches to understand the basis of avian diversity, evolution and behavior

Brian D. Farrell

Professor of Biology
Curator of Entomology in the Museum of Comparative Zoology

farrellb@oeb.harvard.edu
Farrell Lab

Rates, directions and consequences of evolutionary diversification, as well as the marks of evolutionary history on community structure; interactions between various tiny consumers and their hosts, such as beetles and plants or mosquitoes, pathogens and vertebrates

David A. Haig

George Putnam Professor of Biology

dhaig@oeb.harvard.edu
Haig Group

Maternal-fetal conflict in human pregnancy to the evolution of plant life cycles. Particular interest in genetic conflicts within individual organisms, as exemplified by genomic imprinting

Hopi E. Hoekstra

Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology in the Museum of Comparative Zoology
Harvard College Professor
Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology
Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology
Curator of Mammalogy in the Museum of Comparative Zoology
Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator

hopi_hoekstra@harvard.edu
Hoekstra Lab

Identifying and characterizing the molecular changes responsible for traits that affect fitness of organisms in the wild; using wild mice to study the genetic basis of morphological and behavior adaptation

Robin Hopkins

Assistant Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology

rhopkins@fas.harvard.edu
Hopkins Lab

Speciation in plants, predominantly focused on reinforcement, the process in which reduced hybrid fitness generates selection for the evolution of reproductive isolation between emerging species

Bence P. Ölveczky

Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology
Co-Director of Graduate Studies

olveczky@fas.harvard.edu
Ölveczky Lab

Principles and mechanisms used by neural circuits to generate complex, learned behaviors

Naomi E. Pierce

Sidney A. and John H. Hessel Professor of Biology
Curator of Lepidoptera in the Museum of Comparative Zoology
Senior Fellow of the Society of Fellows

npierce@oeb.harvard.edu
N. Pierce Lab

Behavioral ecology and evolution, focusing on species interactions such as insect/host plant associations and symbioses between insects and other organisms; life history evolution and systematics of Lepidoptera

Yun Zhang

Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology

yzhang@oeb.harvard.edu
Zhang Lab

How structure and function of neural circuits regulate complex behavior, including olfactory learning

oebfancylogo2_0.jpeg