Cristina Romero Diaz

I am a behavioral, evolutionary ecologist with special interest in the mechanisms and the evolution of animal communication. My research seeks to explain the form and function of multimodal signals in different social contexts (e.g. mating, competition), using avian and non-avian reptiles as a model system. For the past five years, my interest has focused in understanding the proximate and ultimate causes of visual and chemical signals in the North American lizard genus Sceloporus. My approach combines field and laboratory experiments with comparative and transcriptomic studies. At CIBIO, I will study the ecology and physiology of plastic sex differences in the ornamental coloration of the common waxbill (Estrilda astrild).