Title: "Anti-Nausea for Darwin: energetics and the evolution of sexually selected traits"

Host: Justin Havrid

Ummat is a 2021 Stengl-Wyer Scholar. He studies the evolution of exaggerated sexually selected traits in animals. Ornamented feathers in birds, deer antlers, elephant tusks, and beetle horns are all examples of sexually selected traits. These traits can be large and are very diverse, yet take all take energy to grow and maintain. His research aims to understand how the energetic costs underlying these exaggerated traits may shape their evolution.

Ummat is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panamá. As a Stengl-Wyer Scholar, his faculty mentors are Dr. Justin Havird and Dr. Mike Ryan.