Positions available

I am always interested in hearing from bright, motivated students that may want to join the lab. Primarily, I work on questions related to physiological adaptations during metabolically demanding activities, such as reproduction and territoriality. My lab is also interested in how sexual selection drives diversification in male coloration in East African cichlid fish. If you would like to develop a proposal to obtain funding for a Ph.D. position or postdoc in lab, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Graduate students:

All positions have been filled. We will be recruiting again next year.

Undergraduate students:

We welcome motivated undergraduate students who want to volunteer in our lab and gain valuable research experience. Undergraduate students perform various tasks, including fish maintenance, behavioral analysis, data analysis, and lab work (microscopy, hormone measurements, etc.). Don't hesitate to drop me an email or come see me in my office to discuss research opportunities in our lab (Biosciences Building 4105).

Undergraduate students are actively involved in our research and often contribute to scientific papers as co-author! Below are some examples of this. Undergraduate students are indicated in bold.

Funnell, T., Fialkowski, R. & Dijkstra, P.D. Social dominance does not increase oxidative stress in a female dominance hierarchy of an African cichlid fish. In press, Ethology

Piefke, T., Bonnell, T.R., DeOliveira, G., Border, S.E. & Dijkstra, P.D. 2021. Social network stability is impacted by removing a dominant male in replicate dominance hierarchies of a cichlid fish. Animal Behaviour 175: 7-20 link

Fialkowski, R., Aufdemberge, P, Wright, V.D. & Dijkstra, P.D. Radical change: 2021. Radical change: temporal patterns of oxidative stress during social ascent in a dominance hierarchy. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 75, Article number: 43 link

Sawecki, J., Miros, E., Border, S.E. & Dijkstra, P.D. 2019. Reproduction and maternal care increase oxidative stress in a mouthbrooding cichlid. Behavioral Ecology 30: 1662-1671 link

Border, S.E., Piefke, T., Fialkowski, R., Tryc, M., Funnell, T., DeOliveira, G. & Dijkstra, P.D. 2019. Color change and pigmentation in a color polymorphic cichlid fish. Hydrobiologia 832:175-191 link