Photo of David A. Gray.

David A. Gray

Professor

Ph.D. University of New Mexico

email: dave.gray@csun.edu
Phone: (818) 677-7653
Fax: (818) 677-2034
Office: Chaparral Hall 5327

I study the evolution of insect behavior, mostly sexual signaling and its consequences in crickets.  This necessarily integrates the fields of animal behavior, behavioral and evolutionary genetics, and evolutionary ecology.  My work attempts to address both the microevolutionary and macroevolutionary causes and consequences of mate choice.  This research has both field and laboratory components, and uses a broad range of techniques from molecular and quantitative genetics through bioacoustic and behavioral approaches.

Crickets are a fabulous system for answering a wide range of evolutionary questions and are also extremely well suited for student research. Inquiries from students interested in undergraduate or graduate work are always welcome.

Lab home page: http://www.csun.edu/~dgray

Class information: http://www.csun.edu/~dgray/teaching.html

Some selected publications (* a student when work was done)

* Haley, E. L. & Gray, D. A. 2012. Mating behavior and dual-purpose armaments in a camel cricket. Ethology 118: 49-56.

Gray, D. A. 2011. Speciation, divergence, and the origin of Gryllus rubens: behavior, morphology, and molecules. Insects 2: 195-209.

* Paur, J. & Gray, D. A. 2011. Individual consistency, learning and memory in a parasitoid fly, Ormia ochracea. Animal Behaviour 82:825-830.

* Paur, J. & Gray, D. A. 2011. Seasonal dynamics and overwintering strategy of the tachinid fly (Diptera: Tachinidae), Ormia ochracea (Bigot) in southern California. Terrestrial Arthropod Reviews 4: 145-156.

* Sakaguchi, K. S. & Gray, D. A. 2011. Host song selection by an acoustically-orienting parasitoid fly exploiting a multi-species assemblage of cricket hosts. Animal Behaviour 81: 851-858.

* Izzo, A. S. & Gray, D. A. 2011. Heterospecific courtship and sequential mate choice in sister species of field crickets. Animal Behaviour 81: 259-264.

Weissman, D. B., Walker, T. J., Gray, D. A. 2009. The field cricket Gryllus assimilis and two new sister species (Orthoptera: Gryllidae). Annals of the Entomological Society of America 102: 367-380.

Pellis, S. M., Gray, D. A., Cade, W. H. 2009. The judder of the cricket: the variance underlying the invariance in behaviour. International Journal of Comparative Psychology 22:188-205.

Gray, D. A., Huang, H., Knowles, L. L. 2008. Molecular evidence of a peripatric origin for two sympatric species of field cricket (Gryllus rubens and G. texensis) revealed from coalescent simulations and population genetic tests. Molecular Ecology 17: 3836-3855.

Gray, D. A., * Banuelos, C. M, Walker, S. E., Cade, W. H., Zuk, M. 2007. Behavioural specialization among populations of the acoustically orienting parasitoid fly Ormia ochracea utilizing different cricket species as hosts. Animal Behaviour 73: 99-104.

Gray, D. A., * Barnfield, P., * Seifried, M., & Richards, M.H. 2006. Molecular divergence between Gryllus rubens and Gryllus texensis, sister species of field crickets (Orthoptera: Gryllidae). The Canadian Entomologist 138: 305-313.

Gray, D. A. 2005. Does courtship behavior contribute to species-level reproductive isolation in field crickets? Behavioral Ecology 16: 201-206.

O'Hara, J. & Gray, D. A. 2004. Two new Orthopteran hosts of North American Polideini (Diptera: Tachinidae). Entomological News 115: 177-178.

* Izzo, A. S. & Gray, D. A. 2004. Cricket song in sympatry: examining reproductive character displacement and species specificity of song in Gryllus rubens. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 97: 831-837.

* Saidy, J. & Gray, D. A. 2004. Observations of the acoustic behavior of Hoplosphyrum boreale (Scudder) a common scaly cricket of Southern California. Bulletin of the Southern California Academy of Sciences 103: 34-43.

* Fitzpatrick, M. J. & Gray, D. A. 2001. Divergence between the courtship songs of the field crickets Gryllus texensis and G. rubens (Orthoptera, Gryllidae). Ethology 107: 1075-1085.

Gray, D. A. & Eckhardt, G. 2001.  Is cricket courtship song condition dependent?  Animal Behaviour, 62: 871-877.

Gray, D. A. & Cade, W. H. 2000.  Sexual selection and speciation in field crickets.  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 97: 14449-14454.

Kiflawi, M. & Gray, D. A. 2000. Size-dependent response to conspecific mating calls by male crickets. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, B 267: 2157-2161.

Martin, S. D., Gray, D. A. & Cade, W. H. 2000. Fine-scale temperature effects on cricket calling song. Canadian Journal of Zoology 78: 706-712.

Gray, D. A. & Cade, W. H. 1999. Quantitative genetics of sexual selection in the field cricket, Gryllus integer. Evolution 53: 848-854.

Gray, D. A. & Cade, W. H. 1999. Sex, death and genetic variation: natural and sexual selection on cricket song.  Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, B 266: 707-709.

Gray, D. A. 1997. Female house crickets, Acheta domesticus, prefer the chirps of large males.  Animal Behaviour 54: 1553-1562.

Gray, D. A. 1996. Carotenoids and sexual dichromatism in North American passerine birds. American Naturalist 148: 453-480.