Drew Anderson

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.

Nothing screams good place to rent than the listing saying a stipulation to stay on the property is "no crime"

Super thankful for my time at Reed College. I got to run a lab, teach, and do some great reseach (more coming soon). Dr. Suzy Renn is an awesome mentor and I can't say enough good things about her.
If anyone has a chance to postdoc at a PUI I encourage them to seriously consider it.

🧪🐟🦗 Excited to share I'll be taking a postdoc position with Dr. Mingzi Xu in the EEB program at U Minnesota.
I'll be moving out of fishes and into crickets (for now).
Ready for new challenges and applying what I've done in sex bias to inverts

Undergrad students often forget about genetic drift as an evolutionary process/ force. If you've also experienced this, we might have a solution for you! Our RIE2 (resources for inclusive evolution education) working group just published a week-length drift module: qubeshub.org/publications...

This is an awesome finding.

Postdoctoral Researcher All Job Postings will close at 12:01a.m. CST (1:01a.m. EST) on the specified Closing Date (if designated). If you close the browser or exit your application prior to submitting, the application progre...

Fun news: I'm hiring a postdoc in ichthyology!

Please spread the word #TeamFish, and message me if you have questions.

(Job requisition id is R00107333 if LSU link below takes you elsewhere.)

lsu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/LSU/de...

Utensil with spoon on one end and fork on the other.

Debate rages in my house. Is this a spork?

🧪 That terrifying, yet healthy, feeling when you run a new statistical approach/package and the results "make sense".

I work on mechanisms of cross sexual transfer in fishes. Currently working with behaviors in biparental cichlids. Have some data on brain expression when females engage in male-biased behavior that I'll be publishing soon. Would love to find ways to share it!

Sphaerichthys osphromenoides

Loved having these fish for awhile.

I actually can't work in dead silence.

My son just got his blackout tent.
I love it in there and also love his weighted blanket. I'm seriously questioning my own neurotypical designation.

Got full results. Nailed evo eco. Worst sections were bio chem and history (though still >70%).
Really wish I could go Q by Q though.

For #PrideMonth , an updated reading list
by @jjinsing.bsky.social
via
integrativeandcomparativebiology.wordpress.com/2025/06/10/w...
List
jayjinsing.github.io/ReadingList/

& be sure to read Jay's coauthored ICB work
Cross-sexual Transfer Revisited.

doi.org/10.1093/icb/...

#LGTBQI #Pride

150 multiple choice with 3hr time limit, finished first pass in 1.5 and spent 20 min going through test again to confirm.
To be fair, without MC I couldn't have answered some qs.
On the flip side, when in my wheel house I had to step back and not overthink as I had a few "well technically" moments.