Rate My Professor Andrew Sih

Sih uses an evolutionary approach to investigate behaviors that exert strong influences on ecological patterns at population and community levels. Key areas include predator-prey interactions, mating behaviors, social behaviors, and life history traits. Current research in his laboratory addresses behavioral syndromes, phenotypic plasticity in behavior, responses to human-induced rapid environmental change, antipredator behavior in human-modified environments, invasion biology, and spatiotemporal predator-prey dynamics. He has authored or co-authored seminal papers such as "Optimal Behavior: Can Foragers Balance Two Conflicting Demands?" (Science, 1980), "Predators and prey lifestyles: an evolutionary and ecological overview" (1987), "Behavioral syndromes: an ecological and evolutionary overview" (Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 2004), "Effects of early stress on behavioral syndromes: an integrated adaptive perspective" (Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 2011), and "Evolution and behavioural responses to human-induced rapid environmental change" (Evolutionary Applications, 2011). Sih's honors include the Murray F. Buell Award from the Ecological Society of America (1980), University Research Professorship at Kentucky (1996-1997), presidency of the Animal Behavior Society (1997-2001), Fellowship of the Animal Behavior Society (2007), Quest Award from the Animal Behavior Society (2011), and the Distinguished Animal Behaviorist Award (2023). He is recognized as a Highly Cited Researcher in Ecology and Environmental Sciences by Clarivate Analytics. Through conceptually driven reviews, theory development, and empirical studies, Sih has bridged behavioral ecology with broader ecological subfields, yielding fundamental insights and implications for conservation.