Over 20 years of research on sound & vibration

My consulting rests on an active research program on sound, vibration and human-made noise. Selected publications are below. Visit my website or google scholar page for a full list of peer-reviewed publications.

Selected Journal Publications

*graduate student trainees **undergraduate student trainees #postdoctoral trainees

Related to human-made noise

Church, K.D.W., Seymoure, B.M., Crossen, S., Fowler-Finn, K. D., LeFauve, M.K., Phillips, J.N., & Schulte, B.A. A conservation behaviour approach to the mitigation hierarchy for anthropogenic stressors. 2026. Animal Behaviour. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2026.123625

Halsch, C.A., Forister, M.L., Skinner, G.L.V., Outhwaite, C.L., Belitz, M.W., Maharaj, G., Code, A., Guzman, L.M., Van Deynze, B., Steibl, S., Stoll, E., De Knijf, G., Dittemore, C.M., *Gath, L., Fowler-Finn, K. D., Bal, P., Marsh, J.R., Jadhav, A., Owens, A.C.S., Muchoney, N.D., Tatarko, A.R., Dániel-Ferreira, J., Öckinger, E., Franzem, T.P., Barrett, M., MacDonald , Z.G., Latty, T., MacMillan, H.A., Pohl, G. R., Richards, L.A., Ryalls, J.M.W., Staab, M., Whitney, K.S., Woodcock, B.A., Bahlai, C.A., Grames, E.M., Ware, J.L., Elphick, C.S., Wagner, D.L. Drivers of insect decline: Direct, indirect, and combined pressures. 2026. Annals of the Entomological Society of America. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1093/aesa/saag037

*Classen Rodríguez, L., Tinghitella, R. & Fowler-Finn, K.D. 2021. Anthropogenic noise affects insect and arachnid behavior, thus changing interactions within and between species. Current Opinion in Insect Science. 47: 142-153. pdf

Measurement methods

#McGinley, R.H., Cocroft, R.B., Elias, D.O., **Redle, E., Gorlewicz, J. & Fowler-Finn, K.D. 2024. Quantifying the complex transmission of substrate-borne vibrations with scanning laser vibrometry. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/eea.13501

Other sound-related publications

Fowler-Finn, K.D., **Ahuja, S., **Hercules, J., *Jocson, D., **Miller, E. & #Sasson, D. Variation in thermal courtship activity curves across individuals exceeds variation across populations and sexes. 2025. Journal of Evolutionary Biology. 38(1): 50-62. https://doi.org/10.1093/jeb/voae130.

*Rossi, S.M., Fowler-Finn, K.D. & Gray, D.A. 2024. Temperature effects on interspecific eavesdropping in the wild. Behavioral Ecology. 35(6): arae084. doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arae084.

*Leith, N.T., **Miller, E. A. & Fowler-Finn, K.D. 2024. Thermoregulation enhances survival but not reproduction in a plant-feeding insect. Functional Ecology. doi: 10.1111/1365-2435.14546. Online access

Fowler-Finn, K.D. Rich acoustic landscapes dominated the Mesozoic. 2023. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 120: e2220459120. Commentary

*Macchiano, A., Miller, E., **Agali, U., **Ola-Ajose, A. & Fowler-Finn, K.D. 2023. Developmental temperature alters the thermal sensitivity of courtship activity and signal-preference relationships, but not mating rates. Oecologia. 202(1): 97-111.

#Sasson, D., **Agali, U., **Brouk, R., **Hercules, J., Kilmer, J., *Macchiano, A., **Ola-Ajose, A., Fowler-Finn, K.D. 2022. The potential for the evolution of thermally sensitive courtship activity in the treehopper, Enchenopa binotata. Journal of Evolutionary Biology. 35(11), 1442-1454.

Choi, N., Adams, M., Fowler-Finn, K.D., Knowlton, E., Rosenthal, M., Rundus, A., Santer, R., Wilgers, D. & Hebets, E.A. 2022. Increased signal complexity is associated with increased mating success. Biology Letters. 18(5), 20220052.

*Macchiano, A., Sasson, D.A., **Leith, N.T., & Fowler-Finn, K.D. 2019. Patterns of Thermal Sensitivity and Sex-Specificity of Courtship Behavior Differs Between Two Sympatric Species of Enchenopa Treehopper. Front. Ecol. Evol. 7:361. doi: 10.3389/fevo.2019.00361. pdf

*Jocson, D.I., **Smeester, M., **Leith, N., *Macchiano, A., & Fowler-Finn, K.D. 2019. Temperature coupling of mate attraction signals and female mate preferences in four populations of Enchenopa treehopper (Hemiptera: Membracidae). Journal of Evolutionary Biology. pdf

Fowler-Finn, K.D., *Kilmer, J.T., **Cruz, D., & Rodríguez, R.L. 2018. Female mate choice of male signals is unlikely to promote ecological adaptation in Enchenopa treehoppers (Hemiptera: Membracidae). Ecology and Evolution. ECE33817. DOI: 10.1002/ece3.3817. pdf

Fowler-Finn, K.D., **Cruz, D., & Rodríguez, R.L. 2017. Local population density and group composition influence signal-preference relationships in Enchenopa treehoppers (Hemiptera: Membracidae). Journal of Evolutionary Biology. 30(1):13-25. pdf (Editor's choice article)

Fowler-Finn, K.D. & Rodriguez, R.L. 2016. The causes of variation in the presence of genetic covariance between sexual traits and preferences. Biological Reviews. 91(2): 498-510. DOI: 10.1111/brv.12182. pdf

Fowler-Finn, K.D., *Kilmer, J.T., **Hallet, A.C. & Rodriguez, R.L. 2015. Variation in signal-preference genetic correlations in Enchenopa treehoppers (Hemiptera: Membracidae). Ecology & Evolution. 5(14): 2774-2786. DOI: 10.1002/ece3.1567. pdf

Fowler-Finn, K.D., **Al-Wathiqui, N., **Cruz, D., **Al-Wathiqui, M. & Rodriguez, R.L. 2014. Male Enchenopa treehoppers (Hemiptera: Membracidae) vary mate-searching behaviour but not signaling behaviour in response to spider silk. Naturwissenschaften. 101: 211-220. pdf

Fowler-Finn, K.D. & Rodriguez, R.L. 2013. Repeatability of mate preference functions in Enchenopa treehoppers (Hemiptera: Membracidae). Animal Behaviour. 85: 493-499. pdf

Rodriguez, R.L., **Hallet, A.C., *Kilmer, J.T., Fowler-Finn, K.D. 2013. Curves as traits: genetic and environmental variation in mate preference functions. Journal of Evolutionary Biology. 26: 434-442. pdf

Bailey, N.W., Fowler-Finn, K.D., *Rebar, D. & Rodriguez, R.L. 2013. Green Symphonies or wind in the willows? Testing acoustic communication in plants. Behavioral Ecology (Editorial). 24(4): 797-798. pdf

Fowler-Finn, K.D. & Rodriguez, R.L. 2012. The evolution of experience-mediated plasticity in mate preferences. Journal of Evolutionary Biology. 25: 1855-1863. pdf

Rodriguez, R.L., **Haen, C., Cocroft, R.B. & Fowler-Finn, K.D. 2012. Males adjust signaling effort based on cues arising from expression of female mate preferences. Behavioral Ecology. 23(6); 1218-1225. pdf

Fowler-Finn, K.D. & Rodriguez, R.L. 2012. Experience-mediated plasticity in mate preference functions: mating assurance in a variable environment. Evolution. 66: 459-468. pdf

Talks and presentations

Upcoming · The Hidden Hum: Low-Frequency Noise from Data Centers · Midwest Climate Collaborative · invited talk (virtual)

Oct 27, 2026 · The Science of Data Centers · Saint Louis University · invited talk and panel

Book review

Fowler-Finn, K.D. 2018. "Voice Leading: The Science behind a Musical Art by David Huron," The Quarterly Review of Biology 93, 1: 42-43. https://doi.org/10.1086/696758. pdf