Members
Jill Mateo
Assistant Professor, Department of Comparative Human Development and The College
Ph.D., in Biopsychology, University of Michigan, 1995
Field Specialties:
Development of adaptive behavior. Specializing in communication and anti-predator strategies as well as recognition of kin behaviors.
Contact Information
Phone: (773) 834-9848
Lab: (773) 834-9807
Fax: (773) 702-0320
jmateo@uchicago.edu
The University of Chicago
5730 South Woodlawn Avenue
Chicago, IL 60637
Areas of Research
Dr. Mateo is Assistant Professor with the Department of Comparative Human Development at The University of Chicago, as well as the Institute for Mind and Biology and the Committee on Evolutionary Biology. She received her doctorate in the field of Biopsychology, Evolution of Animal Behavior from the University of Michigan in 1995. Dr. Mateo was a Research Associate with the Department of Psychology at Cornell University (1996-2002).
Dr. Mateo's research focuses on the development of adaptive behavior. Because adaptations are specific to the environments in which they were selected, it follows that the development of these traits is also linked to the specific environments, whether social or physical, that organisms normally encounter.
For example, she has studied the mechanisms of two functional behaviors: learning and anti-predator strategies (especially the role of stress on acquisition and modification of these behaviors) and recognition of kin (including the genetics of mate choice and the 'armpit effect'). Although the adaptive significance of these behaviors has been demonstrated, how they develop in young animals is usually unknown.
Most of her research focuses on Belding's ground squirrels (Spermophilus beldingi), a highly social species found in mountainous areas of the western US. She does most of her research at a field site in Rock Creek Canyon, in the eastern Sierra, as well as at the Sierra Nevada Aquatic Research Laboratory (SNARL), near Mammoth Lakes, CA. Dr. Mateo also studies animals from several other populations, including locations near Saddlebag Lake and Tioga Lake (near Yosemite National Park), Mono Lake, Mammoth Lakes Basin and sites within Rock Creek Canyon.
Dr. Mateo and her students conduct parallel research with humans and non-human primates, including studies on kin recognition, cooperation and behavioral endocrinology.
In addition to the projects listed above, Dr. Mateo is interested in the following research topics:
- sexual selection and the effect of ecological difference on mating systems
- chemical ecology of social recognition
- self-referent phenotype matching and its role in nepotistic behaviors
- within-family relatedness and social bonds among humans
- MHC, kin recognition and social interactions, including mate choice and nepotism
- the role of bacteria and MHC in odor production
- mate choice, relatedness, familiarity and odors
- how odors convey information about reproductive status and health
- population differences in predation pressure and survival strategies
