Campus Directory

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Biography

Kelsey Moreno, Ph.D., is an interdisciplinary researcher in the field of animal behavior. She earned her bachelor's degree in biology with an emphasis in ecology, evolution and organismal studies from Western Washington University in 2013 and her doctorate in brain and behavior psychology from the University of Southern Mississippi in 2017. She then held a postdoctoral research fellowship in the zoology department at Tel Aviv University from 2018 to 2021. Her educational career began as a tutor for foundational math and science courses and has since grown into course instruction and mentorship of new researchers.

Research

Moreno's research focuses on the causes and consequences of social relationships in nonhuman mammals, a topic that draws on multiple aspects of biological and psychological sciences, including evolution, ecology, cognition, social psychology and neuroscience. She has worked with a wide range of vertebrates, including lizards, seals, dolphins, and bats, and is always excited to follow new opportunities to delve into the social lives of highly gregarious species.

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Presentations/Publications/Productions

Refereed Journal Articles

Berman, T. S., Weinberg, M., Moreno, K. R., Czirják, G. Á., & Yovel, Y. (2023). In sickness and in health: the dynamics of the fruit bat gut microbiota under a bacterial antigen challenge and its association with the immune response. Frontiers in Immunology, 14, 1152107.

Rountree, R.A., Moreno, K.R., and Juanes, F. (2022) Hunting with Bubbles: "Possible usage and acoustic characteristics of bubble burst sounds produced by the Amazon River dolphin, Inia geoffrensis, and potential for passive acoustic monitoring." Aquatic Mammals.

Costantini, D., Weinberg, M. Jordán, L., Moreno K.R., Yovel, Y., and Czirják, G.Á. (2022) "Induced bacterial sickness causes inflammation but not blood oxidative stress in Egyptian fruit bats (Rousettus aegyptiacus)." Conservation Physiology.

Moreno, K. R., Weinberg, M., Harten, L., Salinas Ramos, V. B., Herrera M., L.G., Czirják, G. Á., and Yovel, Y. (2021). "Sick Bats Stay Home Alone: Social distancing during the acute phase response in Egyptian fruit bats (Rousettus aegyptiacus)." Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.

Moreno, K.R. and Macgregor, R.P., (2019) "Bubble Trails, Bursts, Rings, and More: A Review of Multiple Bubble Types Produced by Cetaceans." Animal Behavior and Cognition 6(2), 105-126.

Moreno, K.R., Highfill, L., and Kuczaj, S.A.II, (2017). "Does personality similarity in bottlenose dolphin pairs influence dyadic bond characteristics?" International Journal of Comparative Psychology, 30.

Moreno, K., and Acevedo-Gutiérrez, A., (2016). "The social structure of Golfo Dulce bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) and the influence of behavioural state." Royal Society Open Science.

Encyclopedia Entries

Moreno K. (2018) Robert Hinde. In: Vonk J., Shackelford T. (eds) "Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior." Springer, Cham.

Thesis and Dissertation

Moreno, K.R. (2017) "Cetacean Exhalation: An examination of bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) use of three bubble production types through associated behaviors." Doctoral dissertation, University of Southern Mississippi.

Moreno, K.R. (2017) "Does personality similarity in bottlenose dolphin pairs influence dyadic bond characteristics?" Master's thesis, University of Southern Mississippi.

Presentations

Moreno, K. R., Weinberg, M., Harten, L., Salinas Ramos, V. B., Herrera M., L.G., Czirják, G. Á., & Yovel, Y. (2022, August). "Natural Isolation: Egyptian Fruit Bats' Behavioral Response to an Immunological Challenge and Implications for Disease Transmission." Oral presentation in the Advances in Understanding Bat Health and Disease Dynamics Symposium at the International Bat Research Conference, Austin, TX.

Moreno, K. R., Weinberg, M., Harten, L., Salinas Ramos, V. B., Herrera M., L.G., Czirják, G. Á., & Yovel, Y. (2020, July). "Sickness behavior in an extremely social mammal, the Egyptian fruit bat, benefits individuals and their groups." Video presentation at the Association for the Study of Animal Behavior annual meeting and the Animal Behavior Society annual meeting. Online.

Moreno, K.R., Weinberg, M., Yovel, Y, Harten, L., Czirják, G.A., Valeria B. Salinas Ramos, V.B., Herrera Montalvo, L.G. (2020, January) "Sickness in fruit bats: unique immune reaction reflects a unique social behavior." Oral presentation at the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology annual meeting, Austin, TX.

Moreno, K.R. and Bolton, T. (2019, August) "Personality niches across relationship components of the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) social network." Poster presented at the Association for the Study of Animal Behavior summer conference, Konstanz, Germany.

Moreno, K.R., Macgregor, R., and Highfill, L., (2017, October). "Cetacean Exhalation: The function of bubble production in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus)." Speed Talk presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Marine Mammalogy, Halifax, Novia Scotia.

Moreno, K.R., Macgregor, R., and Highfill, L., (2017, August). "Cetacean Exhalation: Preliminary results on the function of three bubble production types in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus)." Oral presentation at the South-East Student Chapter of the Society for Marine Mammalogy, Hattiesburg, Miss.

Moreno, K.R., and Highfill, L. (2017, April). "Does personality similarity in bottlenose dolphin pairs influence dyadic bond characteristics?" Poster presented at the Comparative Cognition Conference, Melbourne, Fla.

Moreno, K.R., and Highfill, L. (2016, November). "Becoming friends: Does personality similarity in bottlenose dolphin pairs influence dyadic bond characteristics?" Three-minute thesis presentation at the University of Southern Mississippi.

Moreno, K.R., and Highfill, L. (2016, November). "Does personality similarity in bottlenose dolphin pairs influence dyadic bond characteristics?" Oral presentation at the South-East Student Chapter of the Society for Marine Mammalogy, Gainesville, Fla.

Moreno, K. R., and Kuczaj, S. A. (2015, December). "Association patterns of bottlenose dolphins in the Mississippi sound." Poster presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Marine Mammalogy, San Francisco, Calif.