Ximena Bernal

About

We are a group of behavioral and sensory ecologists studying the ecology and eco-evo of animal communication. We are particularly interested in understanding how eavesdropping enemies shape signal features and signaling displays. We integrate multiple levels of analysis -- mechanisms (neuroethology) and function (behavior and parasitology) -- to investigate eavesdropping enemies and their victims focusing on anurans and frog-biting midges and mosquitoes that spy on the frogs' mating calls. Our research also examines current challenges confronted by frogs due to anthropogenic environmental changes.

Research topics

• Political Science
• Business
• Medicine
• Law
• Engineering
• Virology
• Public relations
• Computer Science
• Biology
• Telecommunications

Selected publications

• In the wake of COVID-19, academia needs new solutions to ensure gender equity

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2020 · 312 citations

  The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has upended almost every facet of academia (1). Almost overnight the system faced a sudden transition to remote teaching and learning, changes in grading systems, and the loss of access to research resources. Additionally, shifts in household labor, childcare, Many women academics will likely bear a greater burden during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Academia needs to enact solutions to retain and promote women faculty who alre…

  DOI

• Opinion: In the wake of COVID-19, academia needs new solutions to ensure gender equity.

  Default journal · 2020 · 34 citations

• Tiny spies: mosquito antennae are sensitive sensors for eavesdropping on frog calls

  Journal of Experimental Biology · 2023-11-09 · 11 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Most mosquito and midge species use hearing during acoustic mating behaviors. For frog-biting species, however, hearing plays an important role beyond mating as females rely on anuran calls to obtain blood meals. Despite the extensive work examining hearing in mosquito species that use sound in mating contexts, our understanding of how mosquitoes hear frog calls is limited. Here, we directly investigated the mechanisms underlying detection of frog calls by a mosquito species specialized on eaves…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The ontogeny of decision-making in an eavesdropping predator

  Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · 2025-04-01 · 5 citations

  articleOpen access

  Predators use prey-emitted cues to assess and localize potential food sources. Sexual advertisement calls offer conspicuous cues for eavesdropping predators. While the ontogeny of predatory behaviour is key for survival and can determine adult responses, our understanding of the development of the responses to prey-emitted cues is limited. Here, we measured the responses of juvenile and adult fringe-lipped bats ( Trachops cirrhosus ) to the acoustic advertisement calls of co-occurring anurans. W…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Variation in sexual signals and defensive strategies elicits receiver-dependent shifts in attractiveness

  Journal of Experimental Biology · 2025-07-25 · 2 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Sexual selection often favors the evolution of conspicuous mating displays. Emitting such overt displays carries the risk of interception by eavesdropping enemies, i.e. predators, parasitoids and parasites that exploit communication systems to find and attack their signaling victims. Yet, many signalers respond to variation in perceived eavesdropper risk, protecting themselves through risk-dependent inducible defenses to mitigate potential costs. Given that signalers are embedded in communicatio…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• Sensory Bases and Evolution of Interspecific Eavesdropping

  NSF · $467k · 2014–2019

• Sensory Bases and Evolution of Interspecific Eavesdropping

  NSF · $260k · 2013–2014

Frequent coauthors

• Michael J. Ryan

  The University of Texas at Austin

  38 shared

• Rachel A. Page

  Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

  30 shared

• Henry D. Legett

  20 shared

• A. Stanley Rand

  Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

  19 shared

• Brian C. Leavell

  Purdue University West Lafayette

  13 shared

• Ikkyu Aihara

  University of Tsukuba

  13 shared

• Nigel K. Anderson

  Brown University

  11 shared

• Hoover Pantoja‐Sánchez

  Purdue University West Lafayette

  11 shared

Labs

• Behavioral and Sensory Ecology LabPI

  We are fortunate to work with excellent high school and undergraduate students! Mentoring students is an important component of our lab. Central to our mentoring philosophy is identifying the students' goals to help them grow towards them. By developing a relationship founded on mutual respect, we promote a friendly and engaging environment for students to learn through inquiry.

Similar researchers at Purdue University

• Bruce Applegateh-35
• R. Claudio Aguilarh-32
• Beatriz Castroh-25