World's Best Scientists 2026 revealed!

D-Index & Metrics

Ecology and Evolution

D-Index
32
Citations
4404
World Ranking
8053
National Ranking
2672

Overview

Rafael Rodríguez is affiliated with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in the United States. Their research focuses on fields related to Agricultural and Biological Sciences as well as Biochemistry, Genetics, and Molecular Biology. Within these broad domains, Rodríguez has contributed extensively to subfields including Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Genetics, Insect Science, Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience, and Global and Planetary Change.

Their work encompasses a range of topics primarily centered on Animal Behavior and Reproduction, Plant and Animal Studies, and Insect and Arachnid Ecology and Behavior. Additional areas of focus include Neurobiology and Insect Physiology Research, Amphibian and Reptile Biology, Insect-Plant Interactions and Control, and Animal and Plant Science Education.

Among the recent papers authored or co-authored by Rodríguez are:

  • Evolutionary novelty in communication between the sexes (2021, Biology Letters)
  • Juvenile social experience and practice have a switch-like influence on adult mate preferences in an insect (2021, Evolution)
  • Combinatorial Signal Processing in an Insect (2020, The American Naturalist)
  • Back to the Basics of Mate Choice: The Evolutionary Importance of Darwin's Sense of Beauty (2020, The Quarterly Review of Biology)
  • Black widow spiders use path integration on their webs (2021, Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology)

Rodríguez frequently collaborates with several researchers, including:

  • Camille Desjonquères
  • Lauren A. Cirino
  • Clinton Sergi
  • Ignacio Escalante
  • Bretta Speck

Their publications are often found in specific scientific journals with multiple contributions to venues such as:

  • The American Naturalist
  • Animal Behaviour
  • Behaviour
  • Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences
  • Biology Letters

The overall body of work reflects a concentration on understanding communication, mating behavior, and evolutionary biology within insects and other animal systems. Rodríguez's research contributions span experimental studies, signal processing in insect behavior, and ecological approaches to species interactions involving insects and arachnids.

Best Publications

  • The Behavioral Ecology of Insect Vibrational Communication

    Reginald B. Cocroft;Rafael L. Rodríguez

  • Ordinary least squares regression is indicated for studies of allometry

    Joseph T. Kilmer;Rafael L. Rodríguez

  • Contributions of natural and sexual selection to the evolution of premating reproductive isolation: a research agenda.

    Rebecca J. Safran;Elizabeth S.C. Scordato;Elizabeth S.C. Scordato;Laurel B. Symes;Rafael L. Rodríguez

  • Potential Geographical Distribution of the Mediterranean Fruit Fly, Ceratitis capitata (Diptera: Tephritidae), with Emphasis on Argentina and Australia

    M. Teresa Vera;Rafael Rodriguez;Diego F. Segura;Jorge L. Cladera

  • Mechanisms of assortative mating in speciation with gene flow: Connecting theory and empirical research

    Michael Kopp;Maria R Servedio;Tamra C Mendelson;Rebecca J Safran

  • Evidence that female preferences have shaped male signal evolution in a clade of specialized plant-feeding insects

    Rafael L Rodríguez;Karthik Ramaswamy;Reginald B Cocroft

  • Vibrational communication and reproductive isolation in the Enchenopa binotata species complex of treehoppers (Hemiptera: Membracidae).

    Rafael L. Rodríguez;Laura E. Sullivan;Reginald B. Cocroft

  • Genotype–environment interaction and the reliability of mating signals

    Michael D. Greenfield;Rafael L. Rodriguez

  • Sexual selection and static allometry: the importance of function

    William G. Eberhard;William G. Eberhard;William G. Eberhard;Rafael Lucas Rodríguez;Bernhard A. Huber;Bretta Speck

  • Host shifts and signal divergence: mating signals covary with host use in a complex of specialized plant‐feeding insects

    Reginald B. Cocroft;Rafael L. Rodríguez;Rafael L. Rodríguez;Randy E. Hunt

  • EXPERIENCE‐MEDIATED PLASTICITY IN MATE PREFERENCES: MATING ASSURANCE IN A VARIABLE ENVIRONMENT

    Kasey D. Fowler-Finn;Rafael L. Rodríguez

  • Pitfalls in understanding the functional significance of genital allometry

    William G. Eberhard;S. Rafael Lucas Rodriguez;M. Polihronakis

  • The evolution and evolutionary consequences of social plasticity in mate preferences

    Rafael Lucas Rodríguez;Darren Rebar;Kasey D. Fowler-Finn

  • Diversification under sexual selection: the relative roles of mate preference strength and the degree of divergence in mate preferences

    Rafael L. Rodríguez;Janette W. Boughman;David A. Gray;Eileen A. Hebets

  • Plant Host Specificity Among Flower-Feeding Neotropical Drosophila (Diptera: Drosophilidae)

    Sarah Bedichek Pipkin;Rafael L. Rodriguez;Jorge Leon

  • Genetic variance and phenotypic plasticity in a component of female mate choice in an ultrasonic moth.

    Rafael L. Rodríguez;Michael D. Greenfield

  • 7. Host Shifts, The Evolution Of Communication, And Speciation In The Enchenopa Binotata Species Complex Of Treehoppers

    Randy E. Hunt;Rafael L. Rodríguez;Reginald B. Cocroft

  • The evolution of experience-mediated plasticity in mate preferences.

    K. D. Fowler-Finn;R. L. Rodríguez

  • Males adjust signaling effort based on female mate-preference cues

    Rafael L. Rodríguez;Christina Haen;Reginald B. Cocroft;Kasey D. Fowler-Finn

  • Divergence in Female Duetting Signals in the Enchenopa binotata Species Complex of Treehoppers (Hemiptera: Membracidae)

    Rafael L. Rodríguez;Reginald B. Cocroft

  • Curves as traits: genetic and environmental variation in mate preference functions

    R. L. Rodríguez;A. C. Hallett;J. T. Kilmer;K. D. Fowler-Finn

  • Describing mate preference functions and other function-valued traits

    Joseph T. Kilmer;Kasey D. Fowler-Finn;David A. Gray;Gerlinde Höbel

  • DON'T FORGET THE BIOLOGY: A REPLY TO GREEN.

    William G. Eberhard;William G. Eberhard;B. A. Huber;R. L. Rodriguez

Frequent Co-Authors

Reginald B. Cocroft
Reginald B. Cocroft University of Missouri
William G. Eberhard
William G. Eberhard Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Yolanda Picó
Yolanda Picó University of Valencia
Jordi Mañes
Jordi Mañes University of Valencia
Guillermina Font
Guillermina Font University of Valencia
Rebecca J. Safran
Rebecca J. Safran University of Colorado Boulder
Michael D. Greenfield
Michael D. Greenfield François Rabelais University
Eduardo Ros
Eduardo Ros University of Granada
Nelson B. Freimer
Nelson B. Freimer University of California, Los Angeles
Jaime Marian
Jaime Marian University of California, Los Angeles

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