Publications
(* indicates equal contribution, # indicates undergraduate author, BOLD indicates Caves lab member)
2026
ML Ball, BM Titus, DA, Exton, and EM Caves. 2026. Hunger affects cleaning, signaling, and signal reliability in the cleaner shrimp Ancylomenes pedersoniAnimal Behaviour 234: 123516. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2026.123516
JT Kaare-Rasmussen#, AR Detmer, and HV Moeller. 2026. Seeking service: how client behavior determines cleaning station clustering.Journal of Theoretical Biology624: 112394. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtbi.2026.112394
Michael Reichert and EM Caves. 2026. Receiver psychology as a driver of communication network structure. Biological Reviews 101: 1606-1620. https://doi.org/10.1002/brv.70138
2025
DG Chang and EM Caves. 2025. The behavioral ecology of rapid color change in fishes: context, diversity, and open questions. Advances in the Study of Animal Behavior 57: 119-178. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.asb.2025.07.002
PA Green, LA Kelley, and EM Caves. 2025. Incorporating perceptual and social realism into studies of assessment during contests in male green swordtail fish (Xiphophorus hellerii). Integrative and Comparative Biology 65: 822-831. https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/icaf084
NJ Karnovsky, P Warzybok, A Cavalcanti, J Hardin, ZW Brown, EM Caves CM Flynn, G Gallaher, N McDuffie, K McOmber, RW Bradley, ML Elliott, BT Saenz and J Jahncke. 2025. A decade of diving: responses of Cassin’s auklets to variable foraging conditions in the California Current System. Frontiers in Bird Science 4: 1587072. https://doi.org/10.3389/fbirs.2025.1587072
EM Caves and LA Kelley. 2025. The perceptual effects of signal components: black sword margins are crucial for signal size discrimination in green swordtails Xiphophorus hellerii. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 292: 20242137. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2024.2137
2024
DM Cryan, K Vaughn, and EM Caves. 2024. Nocturnal cleaning interactions between the giant moray (Gymnothorax javanicus) and the clear cleaner shrimp (Urocaridella antonbruunii). Ecology and Evolution 14: e70589. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.70589
B Titus, C Froehlich, C Vondriska, R Baker, and EM Caves. 2024. Stable isotopes disentangle niche partitioning and co-occurrence in a multi-species marine mutualism. Oikos: e10553. http://doi.org/10.1111/oik.10553
EM Caves, AL Davis, and S Johnsen. 2024. Nanoscale ultrastructures increase the visual conspicuousness of signalling traits in obligate cleaner shrimps.Journal of Experimental Biology 227: jeb248064.https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.248064
E Tibbetts, O Harris, N Morehouse, and EM Caves. 2024. The evolution of simplifying heuristics in visual cognition: Categorization, specialization, and visual illusions.Annual Reviews of Vision: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-vision-100923-015932
EM Caves, AL Davis, S Nowicki, and S Johnsen. 2024. Backgrounds and the evolution of visual signals. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 39: 188-198. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2023.09.006. *cover
EM Caves, E Fernández-Juricic, and LA Kelley. 2024. Ecological and morphological correlates of visual acuity in birds. Journal of Experimental Biology 227: jeb 246063. https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.246063
2023
MP Heard, CL Nordheim, C McKinley, ZL Zilz, VA Jones, BA Vincent, and EM Caves. 2023. Excluded identity retention in STEM: a roadmap for inclusive undergraduate research symposia. Oceanography 36(4). https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2024.116
K Bullough, A Kuijper, EM Caves, and LA Kelley. 2023. Quick Guide: Weber’s Law. Current Biology 33: R992-R993. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2023.07.016
EM Caves, TT Sutton, EJ Warrant, and S Johnsen. 2023. Measures and models of visual acuity in epipelagic and mesopelagic teleosts and elasmobranchs. Journal of Comparative Physiology A: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-023-01661-7
EM Caves and LA Kelley. 2023. Proportional processing of a visual mate choice signal in the green swordtail Xiphophorus hellerii. Ecology Letters 26: 575-585. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ele.14179
2022
EM Caves, PA Green, and M Hughes. 2022. Communication. In: The Routledge International Handbook of Comparative Psychology. Pg 147-159. Edited by: A.R. Ridley, P. d’Ettorre, and T.M. Freeberg. Routledge.
2021
EM Caves, F de Busserolles, and LA Kelley. Sex differences in behavioural and anatomical estimates of visual acuity in the green swordtail Xiphophorus helleri. 2021. Journal of Experimental Biology 224: jeb243420. https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.243420
T Dixit, EM Caves, CN Spottiswoode, and NPC Horrocks. Why and how to apply Weber’s Law to the coevolution of models and mimics. Evolution 75: 1906-1919. doi:10.1111/evo.14290
EM Caves. The behavioural ecology of marine cleaning mutualisms. 2021. Biological Reviews. doi: 10.1111/brv.12770
EM Caves,T Dixit, JFR Colebrook-Robjent, L Hamusikili, M Stevens, R Thorogood, and CN Spottiswoode. Hosts elevate either within-clutch consistency or between-clutch distinctiveness of egg phenotypes in defence against brood parasites. 2021. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: 20210326. doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.0326
EM Caves and S Johnsen. 2021. The sensory impacts of climate change: bathymetric shifts and visually-mediated interactions in aquatic species. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 288: 20210396. doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.0396. Covered by: weather.com, Energy & Environment News
EM Caves, PA Green, MN Zipple, D Bharath#, S Peters, S Johnsen, and S Nowicki. 2021. Comparison of categorical color perception in two Estrildid finches. The American Naturalist: 197: 190-202.
2020
EM Caves, J Troscianko*, and LA Kelley*. 2020. A customizable, low-cost optomotor apparatus: a powerful tool for behaviourally measuring visual capability. Methods in Ecology and Evolution. doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.13449
EM Caves, LE Schweikert, PA Green, C Taboada, MN Zipple, S Peters, S Nowicki, and S Johnsen. 2020. Variation in retinal carotenoids correlates with variation in perception of carotenoid coloration. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. DOI:10.1007/s00265-020-02874-5
2019
EM Caves*, C Chen*#, and S Johnsen. 2019. The cleaner shrimp Lysmata amboinensis adjusts its behavior toward predatory versus non-predatory clients. Biology Letters: 15, 20190534.
EM Caves, S Nowicki, and S Johnsen. 2019. Von Uexküll revisited: Addressing human biases in the study of animal perception. Integrative and Comparative Biology. DOI:10.1093/icb/icz073
MN Zipple*, EM Caves*, PA Green, S Peters, S Johnsen, and S Nowicki. 2019. Categorical perception in non-signalling versus signalling color ranges in a songbird. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: 286, 20190524
LE Schweikert, EM Caves, SE Solie, TT Sutton, and S Johnsen. 2019. Variation in rod spectral sensitivity of fishes is best predicted by habitat and depth. Journal of Fish Biology. 95: 179-185. DOI:10.1111/jfb.13859
2018
LE Schweikert, RR Fitak, EM Caves, TT Sutton, and S Johnsen. 2018. Spectral sensitivity in ray-finned fishes: diversity, ecology, and shared descent. Journal of Experimental Biology: 221, jeb189761. doi:10.1242/jeb.189761
EM Caves*, PA Green*, MN Zipple, S Peters, S Johnsen, and S Nowicki. 2018. Categorical perception of colour signals in a songbird. Nature. 560: 365–367.
EM Caves, PA Green, and S Johnsen. 2018. Mutual visual signalling between the cleaner shrimp Ancylomenes pedersoni and its client fish. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 285: 20180800.
EM Caves, NC Brandley, and S Johnsen. 2018. Visual acuity and the evolution of signals. Trends in Ecology and Evolution. 33: 358-372.
R Fitak, EM Caves, and S Johnsen. 2018. Orientation in pill bugs: an interdisciplinary activity to engage students in concepts of biology, physics, and circular statistics. The American Biology Teacher 80: 608-618.
2017
EM Caves and S Johnsen. 2017. AcuityView: An R package for portraying the effects of visual acuity on scenes observed by an animal. Methods in Ecology and Evolution 9: 793-797.
EM Caves, M Stevens, and CN Spottiswoode. 2017. Does coevolution with a shared parasite drive hosts to partition their defences among species? Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 284: 20170272.
EM Caves, TT Sutton, and S Johnsen. 2017. Visual acuity in fish correlates with eye size and habitat. Journal of Experimental Biology 220: 1586-1596.
2016
EM Caves, TM Frank, and S Johnsen. 2016. Spectral sensitivity, spatial resolution, and temporal resolution and their implications for conspecific signalling in cleaner shrimp. Journal of Experimental Biology 219: 597-608.
2015
EM Caves, M Stevens, E Iverson, and CN Spottiswoode. 2015. Hosts of brood parasites have evolved egg visual signatures with elevated information content. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 282: 20150598. *cover
2013
EM Caves*, Jennings SB*, HilleRisLambers J, Tewksbury JJ, Rogers HS. 2013. Natural experiment demonstrates that bird loss leads to cessation of dispersal of native seeds from intact to degraded forests. PLoS ONE 8(5): e65618.