Sharing discoveries from the Lee Lab
* indicates undergraduate student author
2026
Bitner, L., Ying, J. C., Dominguez, J. A., Mason, A. C., & Lee, N. (in prep). Song recognition in Floridian Ormia ochracea.
Bitner, L., Ying, J. C., Vu, Q., Rossinow, A., Morgan, J., Greene, C., Whalen, A., Mason, A. C., & Lee, N. (in prep). Reproductive state shapes auditory perception and host-seeking behaviour in Ormia ochracea.
Yusuf, L. H., Rayner, J. G., Zhang, R., Twyman, K. Z., Zhang, X., Balenger, S. L., Lee, N., Tinghitella, R. M., Gray, D. A., Blaxter, M., & Bailey, N. W. (in prep). Ecological genomics of a novel host-parasitoid arms-race in nature.
Ward, J. L., Lee, N., Kalra, K. & Bee, M. A. (under review). Spatial and spectrotemporal features of noise alter female responses
to costly male signals in Cope’s gray treefrog (Hyla chrysoscelis). Journal of Comparative Physiology A.
2025
Welsh, G. T., Gallagher, J. H., Westwood, M. L., Leon-Gamez, V., *Bitner, L., Lee, N., & Tinghitella, R. M. (2025). How relaxed preferences facilitate the evolution of novel animal signals. Evolution Letters, qrf047. https://doi.org/10.1093/evlett/qraf047 (pdf)
*Henderson, P. A., Bloch Qazi, M., Lee, N., & Cole, E. S. (2025). Reproductive anatomy and embryogenesis of a viviparous, phonotactic, parasitoid fly. Annals of the Entomological Society of America, saaf021. https://doi.org/10.1093/aesa/saaf021 (pdf)
[Media coverage: Innovations Report, True Facts – Ze Frank, Popular Science, Phys.org, St. Olaf News, Mandarinian News]
*Dominguez, J. A., Latham, B., *Bitner, L., *Mongui, L. C., *Rossinow, A., *Xiong, Y., *Schmidt, B. V., *Vu, Q., *Torres-Lopez, B. L., *Henderson, P. A., Mason, A. C., & Lee, N. (2025). Resource competition affects developmental outcomes of the acoustic parasitoid fly Ormia ochracea. Annals of the Entomological Society of America, saaf018. https://doi.org/10.1093/aesa/saaf018 (pdf)
[*Media coverage: Popular Science, True Facts – Ze Frank, Phys.org, St. Olaf News]
Cover Feature:
Wikle, A. W., Broder, E. D., Gallagher, J. H., *Dominguez, J., *Carlson, M., *Vu, Q., Tinghitella, R. M., & Lee, N. (2025). Neural and behavioral evolution in an eavesdropper with a rapidly evolving host. Current Biology, 35(5), 1074-1084.e7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2025.01.019 (pdf)
Dispatch article written by Dr. Ronald R. Hoy on this work.
[Media coverage: Atmos, Science News, Hawai’i Public Radio, Phys.org, St. Olaf News]
2023
Lee, N., Vélez, A., & Bee, M. (2023). Behind the mask(ing): How frogs cope with noise. Journal of Comparative Physiology A, 209(1), 47–66. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-022-01586-7 (pdf)
Cover Feature:
*Jirik, K. J., *Dominguez, J. A., *Abdulkarim, I., *Glaaser, J., *Stoian, E. S., *Almanza, L. J., & Lee, N. (2023). Parasitoid–host eavesdropping reveals temperature coupling of preferences to communication signals without genetic coupling. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 290(2005), 20230775. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2023.0775 (pdf)
[Media coverage: Phys.org, St. Olaf News]
2021
Lee, N., Christensen-Dalsgaard, J., White, L. A., Schrode, K. M., & Bee, M. A. (2021). Lung mediated auditory contrast enhancement improves the Signal-to-noise ratio for communication in frogs. Current Biology, 31(7), 1488-1498.e4. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2021.01.048 (pdf)
[Media coverage: The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (starting at 5:38), The Atlantic, BBC Science Focus, Belfast Telegraph, Borders Telegraph, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation [Quirks and Quarks], The Conversation, Courthouse News, The Daily Mail, Deutschland Radio, Earth.com, The Evening Standard, The Hankyoreh, IFLScience, Le Mond, New Scientist, Phys.org, Physics Today (and here), Popular Science, Science Daily, Science News, The Science Times, Scientias, Scientific American [Arabic Language Edition], Smithsonian Magazine, Technology.org, Treehugger, United Press International, World News Era, St. Olaf News]
Cover Feature:
2020
Christensen-Dalsgaard, J., Lee, N., & Bee, M. A. (2020). Lung-to-ear sound transmission does not improve directional hearing in green treefrogs (Hyla cinerea). Journal of Experimental Biology, jeb.232421. https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.232421 (pdf)
Cover Feature:
2019
Lee, N., *Kirtley, A., *Pressman, I., *Jirik, K., Koucoulas, D., & Mason, A. (2019). Developing a phonotaxis performance index to uncover signal selectivity in walking phonotaxis. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 7. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2019.00334 (pdf)
[Media coverage: PhysOrg, St. Olaf News, St. Olaf Magazine – Fall 2019 pgs 33-35]
2017
Lee, N., Schrode, K. M., & Bee, M. A. (2017). Nonlinear processing of a multicomponent communication signal by combination-sensitive neurons in the anuran inferior colliculus. Journal of Comparative Physiology A-Neuroethology Sensory Neural and Behavioral Physiology, 203(9), 749–772. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-017-1195-3 (pdf)
Lee, N., & Mason, A. C. (2017). How spatial release from masking may fail to function in a highly directional auditory system. eLife, 6, e20731. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.20731 (pdf)
[Media coverage: Gizmodo, Popular Mechanics [Russian Edition], TVO, Cantech Letter]
Lee, N., Ward, J. L., Vélez, A., Micheyl, C., & Bee, M. A. (2017). Frogs Exploit Statistical Regularities in Noisy Acoustic Scenes to Solve Cocktail-Party-like Problems. Current Biology, 27(5), 743–750. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2017.01.031 (pdf)
[Media coverage: Le Monde]
2016
Caldwell, M. S., Lee, N., & Bee, M. A. (2016). Inherent directionality determines spatial release from masking at the tympanum in a vertebrate with internally coupled ears. Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology, 17(4), 259–270. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10162-016-0568-6 (pdf)
2014
Caldwell, M., Lee, N., Schrode, K., Johns, A., Christensen-Dalsgaard, J., & Bee, M. (2014). Spatial hearing in Cope’s gray treefrog: II. Frequency-dependent directionality in the amplitude and phase of tympanum vibrations. Journal of Comparative Physiology A, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-014-0883-5 (pdf)
2011
Howard, D. R., Lee, N., Hall, C. L., & Mason, A. C. (2011). Are Centrally Displaying Males Always the Centre of Female Attention? Acoustic Display Position and Female Choice in a Lek Mating Subterranean Insect. Ethology, 117(3), 199–207. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0310.2010.01858.x (pdf)
2009
Lee, N., Elias, D. O., & Mason, A. C. (2009). A precedence effect resolves phantom sound source illusions in the parasitoid fly Ormia ochracea. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 106(15), 6357–6362. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0809886106 (pdf)
2006
Elias, D. O., Lee, N., Hebets, E. A., & Mason, A. C. (2006). Seismic signal production in a wolf spider: Parallel versus serial multi-component signals. Journal of Experimental Biology, 209(6), 1074. https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.02104 (pdf)
2005
Mason, A. C., Lee, N., & Oshinsky, M. L. (2005). The start of phonotactic walking in the fly Ormia ochracea: A kinematic study. Journal of Experimental Biology, 208(24), 4699–4708. https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.01926 (pdf)