Ummat Somjee

Ummat Somjee’s innovative, field-based experiments focus on the evolution, function and costs of elaborate traits in insects, particularly weapons used in male–male competition. By combining natural-history observations with behavioral experiments and physiological measurements, he investigates how these traits influence reproductive success, survival and evolutionary trade-offs.

Sexually selected traits can provide substantial reproductive advantages, but their energetic, developmental and ecological costs are often difficult to measure, particularly under natural conditions. Somjee’s field observations and understanding of natural history have helped him devise and perform experiments that connect insect’s forms and behaviors with whole-animal physiology. In coreid true bugs, he measured metabolic rates in both sexes and across insects of different sizes. He also quantified the reduction in resting metabolic rate after males lost one of the enlarged hind legs used in combat to estimate the energetic contribution of these weapons. In an Australian coreid species, he found a trade-off between investment in weaponized hind legs and testes, and this finding demonstrates how males allocate limited resources among traits involved in competition and reproduction. By measuring physiological costs and reproductive trade-offs in living animals, Somjee has helped establish a field-based framework for understanding the evolution of elaborate morphology — the shape and form of insects and other animals.

Somjee’s field studies have advanced the understanding of the study of sexual selection and insect evolution. His novel studies of weapons, visual signals and antipredator traits reveal how sexual and natural selection interact to shape insect form, behavior and ecology. His work demonstrates how close attention to natural history in field settings can generate new experimental approaches and fundamental evolutionary insights. Somjee shares his insights through clear communications and collaborations across the scientific community.

See Somjee’s work featured on the PBS documentary, “Bugs that Rule the World”  and visit his website to learn more.

Photo: Katherine Sinacore