Research Interests
My research subjects and interests have been diverse. One of my primary interests is behavioral ecology. In particular I’m interested in how the environment influences behavior and how behavior and the environment together influence mating and reproductive success. My doctoral dissertation, conducted at UCLA, investigated how the light and social environment influenced how male damselflies used alternative mating tactics, and how those same environmental features combined with tactic use to determine mating success for damselfly males (View article online here). In earlier work I investigated how nest site selection by song sparrows influenced whether they were parasitized by brown-headed cowbirds, a bird that lays its eggs in the nests of other species.
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I also have a strong interest in conservation. In the past I have studied how restoration of a riparian forest influenced the reproductive success of a riparian bird species, and have conducted bird and mammal surveys for World Wildlife Fund and USAID to identify areas of conservation priority in Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea. Currently, I am working with researchers from Princeton University (http://www.princeton.edu/~equids) and with Robert Wayne here at UCLA to examine population genetic structure, migration and gene flow in the endangered Grevy’s Zebra so that we can understand how the zebra should be managed and how best to work with the local communities to conserve this species. Grevy’s zebra is a flagship species, the preservation of which will help preserve the rich ecology of the Laikipia-Samburu region of Kenya.
Education
Ph.D. University of California, Los Angeles, 2007
MA Biology, San Francisco State University, 1996
BS Marine Biology, San Francisco State University, 1989
Teaching
Lecturer in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, UCLA
EEB114 Ornithology
EEB129 Animal Behavior
EEB124 Field Ecology
Publications
Larison, B. 2008. Impacts of environmental heterogeneity on alternative mating tactics in the threadtail damselfly. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 16:531-536.
Larison, B. 2007. Environmental heterogeneity and alternative mating tactics in the damselfly, Protoneura amatoria. Behavioral Ecology 18:1021-1028.
Larison, B., P. W. Williams, S. A. Laymon, and T. B. Smith. 2001. Avian responses to restoration: nest-site selection and reproductive success in Song Sparrows. Auk 118:432-442.
Smith, T. B., K. Holder, D. Girman, K. O'Keefe, B. Larison, and Y. Chan. 2000. Comparative avian phylogeography of Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea mountains: implications for conservation. Molecular Ecology 9:1505-1516.
Larison, B., T. B. Smith, R. Fotso, and D. McNiven. 2000. Comparative avian biodiversity of five mountains in northern Cameroon and Bioko. Ostrich 17:269-276.
Schneider, C. J., T. B. Smith, B. Larison and C. Moritz. 1999. A test of alternative models of diversification in tropical rainforests: Ecological gradients vs. rainforest refugia. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 96: 13869-13873.
Larison, B., S. A. Laymon, P. L. Williams, and T. B. Smith. 1998. Song Sparrows vs. Cowbird brood parasites: impacts of forest structure and nest-site selection. Condor 100: 93-101.