Ned A. Dochtermann

Professor

Faculty

Biological Sciences

Ned Dochtermann smiling confidently.

Areas of Study & Research

Ecological and evolutionary maintenance and consequences of phenotypic variation, in particular behavioral variation and behavioral correlations. Research examines, for example, how patterns of genetic correlations impact evolutionary outcomes.

Other Research Interests

Quantitative genetics, statistical methods development, evolutionary trade-offs

Courses Taught

Ecology (BIOL 364); Animal Behavior (BIOL 463); Mammalogy (BIOL 458); Quantitative Biology (BIOL 842)

Current Grants

NDSU Foundation Impact Fund. Creating ShinyApps to support quantitative reasoning in undergraduate biology. 2023 – 2025. Total funded: $46,060 (PI)

National Science Foundation (IOS). Mid-Career Advancement: Estimating quantitative genetic parameters via SNP based relatedness. 2022-2026. Total funded: $250,214 (PI)

Awards & Honors

Jordan A. Engberg Presidential Professorship Award (2025 – 2027); North Dakota State University

Excellence in Research Award (2017); College of Science & Mathematics, North Dakota State University

Outstanding New Investigator Award (2016); Animal Behavior Society

Frank A. Pitelka Award for Excellence in Research (2014); International Society for Behavioral Ecology

National Academies Education Fellow in the Life Sciences (2013); National Academy of Sciences

Professional Associations

Statistical Quantification of Individual Differences (SQuID) Statistical Working Group (Founding Member)

Animal Behavior Society

Links

Education

  • Ph.D. Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology; University of Nevada, Reno (2009)
  • M.Sc. University of California, Davis (2005)
  • B.Sc. University of California, Davis (1999)

Publications

2021 - current

* indicates shared first author status; c corresponding author; †, ‡, and p indicate, respectively, mentored undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral coauthors

56. Reale, D., H. Allegue, Y. Araya-Ajoy, N.A. Dochtermann, S. Nakagawa, J. Pick, H. Schielzeth, D. Westneat, N. Dingemanse. in press. Avoiding biased estimates of among-individual variance caused by non-random sampling of individuals in a changeable environment. Methods in Ecology and Evolution

55. Class, B., Y. Araya-Ajoy, N.J. Dingemanse, N.A. Dochtermann, J. Martin, M. Moiron, D.F. Westneat. 2025. Disentangling non-random assortment, indirect effects, and joint plasticity as causes of phenotypic (dis)similarity between social partners. Journal of Evolutionary Biology. doi: 10.1093/jeb/voaf057

54. McCune, K.B., C. Williams, N.A. Dochtermann, H. Schielzeth, S. Nakagawa. 2025. Repeatability and intra-class correlations from time-to-event data. Animal Behaviour. doi: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2025.123102

53. Elderbrock, E., G. Brown, N.A. Dochtermann, H. Galante, M. Haue, T. Greives. 2025. Daily activity is repeatable but varies across the breeding season in female great tits. at Behavioral Ecology. doi: 10.1093/beheco/arae106

52. Garrison, C.R.‡, S. Sakaluk, N.A. Dochtermannc. 2025. Sexual signaling and alternative reproductive tactics: a test of game theoretic predictions. Animal Behaviour. doi: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2024.10.023

51. Dochtermannc, N.A., B. Klock†, R. RoyautéP, D.A. Roff. 2023. Drift on holey landscapes as a dominant evolutionary process. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2313282120

50. Dochtermannc, N.A. 2023. The role of trade-offs and feedbacks in shaping integrated plasticity and behavioral correlations. Behavioral Ecology. doi: 10.1093/beheco/arad056.

49. Pick, J.L, C. Kasper, H. Allegue, N.J. Dingemanse, N.A. Dochtermann, K.L. Laskowski, M.R. Lima, H. Schielzeth, D.F. Westneat, J. Wright, Y.G. Araya-Ajoy. 2023. Describing posterior distributions of variance components: Problems and the use of null distributions to aid interpretation. Methods in Ecology and Evolution. doi:10.32942/X27G6W

48. Dalos, J. ‡, Royauté, R.,P A.V. Hedrick., N.A. Dochtermannc. 2022. Phylogenetic conservation of behavioral variation and behavioral syndromes. Journal of Evolutionary Biology. doi:10.1111/jeb.13935

47. Royauté R.P, N.A. Dochtermannc. 2021. Comparing ecological and evolutionary variability within datasets. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. doi:10.1007/s00265-021-03068-3

46. Bucklaew, A.†, N.A. Dochtermannc. 2021. The effects of exposure to predators on personality and plasticity. Ethology. doi:10.1101/2020.03.26.010413

Presentations

Understanding the evolution of behavioral correlations. Plenary Lecture: Animal Behavior Society Annual Meeting; June 27, 2024 (youtube link )