Karen Munroe

Dr. Karen Munroe is a broadly trained biologist who enjoys answering questions from macro and micro perspectives. Her graduate research focused on the social behavior and mating systems of round-tailed ground squirrels using classic observational and current genetic and molecular techniques. She has continued using these research techniques on squirrel species located here on campus. She is also interested in working with students on projects of their own interest that incorporate behavior, particularly social behavior.

Munroe's developing research with BW students pairs classic observational field biology with contemporary molecular techniques to answer ecological questions on several levels. Currently, Munroe's research is aimed to explore the social system of fox squirrels as well as the mating system of both fox and gray squirrels with particular attention on the melanistic (black) squirrels on campus.

Publications

Munroe, K. E. and J. L. Koprowski. In press. Copulatory plugs in round-tailed ground squirrels (Xerospermophilus tereticaudus). Southwestern Naturalist.

Munroe, K. E., and J. L. Koprowski. 2011. Genetic mating system of round-tailed ground squirrels (Spermophilus tereticaudus): not just another polygynous ground squirrel. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 65:1811-1824

Munroe, K. E., J. L. Koprowski, V. L. Greer. 2009. The mating and social systems in red squirrels: Do Mt. Graham red squirrels fit the pattern? Ecology of Endangerment: The Mt. Graham Red Squirrel and its Last Refuge.

Swihart, R., T. Atwood, J. Goheen, D. Scheiman, K. Munroe, and T. Gehring. 2003. Patch occupancy of North American mammals: Is patchiness in the eye of the beholder? Journal of Biogeography 30:1259-1279.

Levy, M. and K. E. Munroe. 2001. Diversity, Ecology and Behavior. Laboratory Manual for Biology 122. Purdue University Press. West Lafayette, Indiana.