Michael J. Ryan

Michael J. Ryan is a Professor in the Department of Integrative Biology at the University of Texas at Austin, affiliated with the College of Liberal Arts. His research explores the mechanisms and evolution of animal communication, focusing on sexual signals in auditory and visual modalities in fishes and frogs. He earned his Ph.D. from Cornell University and can be contacted via mryan@utexas.edu.

Ryan’s lab integrates behavior, sensory ecology, phylogenetic reconstruction, and neurophysiology to study sexual selection and communication. His work spans topics such as multimodal signal evolution, environmental constraints on mating signals, and cognitive processes in mate choice.

Recent publications highlight his focus on acoustic communication, mate sampling, and signal plasticity in frogs, alongside cross-species studies on decision-making in bats and insects. His research often reveals nonlinear dynamics in sexual selection and the interplay between ecological pressures and signal evolution.