Drew Anderson

As someone answered the dimorphism is the broodpouch and maybe the females are slightly bigger/fatter (though that's a generalization of pipefish-cant say for sure about leptos). There aren't any clear ornaments or other features though.

Gonzo's talk would be the wildest ideas ever.

Bird (robin?) Puffed up against cold on roof.

-20 in Saint Paul and this bird shows it. Whole bunch of em on our roof and having birdie snow cones.

After 3 months in our new apartment, I can unequivocally say,
"Clawfoot bathtubs are the worst."

Table covered with letters with drawings and notes from 1st graders.

Anytime someone tries to convince me to put my son in a non-inclusive setting, I'm showing this picture. It's the 2nd time his former class (we moved states in Oct) has sent him letters. He loves it, and he had made meaningful connections. It sucked to take that from him, we hope to rebuild that.

You can tell a lot about a person based on who their favorite Muppet is.

I am looking for a postdoc position + will be attending #SICB2026! My areas of interest/experience: sexual selection, reproduction, host-parasite interactions, animal behavior, (plus bio ed and disability advocacy in bio). I would be happy to chat with anyone attending who is looking for postdocs!

a car is driving across a bridge with the words hawkeye action written on the bottom Alt: a car is driving across a bridge with the words hawkeye action written on the bottom

Family is on our annual Hawkeye Christmas build up. Every time I see it, I love the way the car chase scene was shot.

The number of jobs I applied to this cycle was 1/3 of the last due to less jobs and being more selective about locations. After last year I learned I had to ensure my special needs son could get supports and education. It's tough out there, but with less apps I couldn't repeat my success this time.

One guy really was wanting to sing out

Cups with crickets under red light. Foreground with lap with microphone and recorder.

After some training. This 🐟🐠 guy is ready to collect some some 🦗 songs on his own🧪

Guys! We got to keep all his support and keep him included!

If anyone has special needs kids, keep pushing, keep fighting, keep advocating.

Incredibly angry right now.
My learning disabled kid had full inclusion in gen ed with support (hard fought to get) and was making good progress.
A move to a new state (MN), and after 2 weeks they want to put him in an entirely segregated classroom.

I have done a lot in life, but nothing as challenging, high stakes, or nerve-wracking as an IEP meeting.
We do them 1-3x annually and just now since we moved.
With all the evidence on inclusion, it is surprising how hard we have to push to get it (every time it seems).

Moving to Minnesota has resulted in me hearing waaaay more Nickleback than I'm accustomed to.

Barn with cows.

2nd day at new job. Here's what's next to my parking spot. Taking me back to my PhD days. Definitely at a land grant institution. 🙂

Gotta love the post-doc life. I am literally packing for the move for my next post-doc while completing job applications.

I am recruiting 1-2 graduate students (M.S. or Ph.D. track) to join my lab at @psychualberta.bsky.social in Fall 2026! Please share widely, and if you are interested in endocrinology, animal behavior, neuroscience, and/or seasonal biology, I would love to chat! 🐟🧠🧬🍂

Changes in steroid hormone levels based on a plastic behavioral role in two biparental cichlids, Julidochromis transcriptus and Julidochromis marlieri: A test of the Ancestral Modulation Hypothesis Cross-sexual transfer describes the situation when one sex takes on the phenotypic values of the other sex, either plastically or over evolutionary ti…

🐟🐠🧪
Happy to share our paper in Hormones and Behavior which is the first test of some of my predictions from the Ancestral Modulation Hypothesis.
🧵 on the findings in a biparental cichlid with plastic behaviors that are a form of cross-sexual transfer

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Ha!

As a Miami Hurricane, I will be perpetually annoyed if people call U Minnesota the U.

Questions and comments are always welcome. If you find this framework interesting, humor me and try it out on situations of cross-sexual transfer or emergent dimorphism to see if it holds up. I was pleased it worked here, but science is all about putting things to the test.
Thanks!

This was a fun paper and I'll soon have one out about the brain transcriptomics from these fish (yes Androgen Receptors play a big role). We did this while I was a VP with my own Undergrad research lab. They were amazing in this process...

Correlations of partner behavior with targeted behaviors.

If you've been thinking about the Challenge Hypothesis, you're not alone. This is complementary. It turns out partner behavior influences observed behavior which correlates with androgens. Thus our evo framework works alongside the environmental one...

For the female larger species we don't see those shifts or a linear correlation with 11KT, but we do see one with T. My guess is females evolved to use T from 11KT as T might have less negative physiological consequences and both interact with androgen receptors (though which ones, we don't know)...

When females take on male biased behaviors plastically they ramp up more than male tamp down 11kt. In fact their 11kt levels exceed males in some cases--more impressive than T for fishes. We removed categories (size and sex) and still found this correlation with 11KT...

11kt and t reaction norms for two species.

For the female larger species we expect that the behavior is already linked to androgens, so they should likewise have androgen correlation (instead of say estrogen). Turns out we're correct for plastic transfer in male larger species, but kind of right in evo transfer female larger species...

Graphical representation of the Ancestral Modulation Hypothesis

We leveraged the evolutionary history of these fishes to infer that the territorial behavior evolved from male-biased behaviors. Thus we expect the behaviors should correlate with androgens (11KT) in the male larger species and females should increase androgens when they become the larger partner..

Figure from paper showing J. transcriptus and J. marlieri shifting behaviors in both sexes based on size.

We know members of Julidochromis have varying preferred partner size relationships (e.g. Male larger than female), but if put in a situation where they can't do that they will switch roles in nesting behavior. This study confirmed that for our target species...

Changes in steroid hormone levels based on a plastic behavioral role in two biparental cichlids, Julidochromis transcriptus and Julidochromis marlieri: A test of the Ancestral Modulation Hypothesis Cross-sexual transfer describes the situation when one sex takes on the phenotypic values of the other sex, either plastically or over evolutionary ti…

🐟🐠🧪
Happy to share our paper in Hormones and Behavior which is the first test of some of my predictions from the Ancestral Modulation Hypothesis.
🧵 on the findings in a biparental cichlid with plastic behaviors that are a form of cross-sexual transfer

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

I use this paper when discussing evolution, adaptation, and "just so" stories. This is, in my opinion, what Gould and Lewinton were discussing as a Panglossian view.