Kevin McGraw
Professor, School of Life Sciences, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
School of Life Sciences
Arizona State University
PO Box 874501
Tempe, AZ 85287-4501
Titles
- Professor, School of Life Sciences, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
- Affiliated Faculty, Center for Biodiversity Outcomes, Global Institute of Sustainability and Innovation
Biography
Kevin McGraw is an integrative behavioral ecologist who primarily studies the colors of animals such as birds to understand the costs, benefits and evolution of visual signals. He and his students use a variety of approaches from fields including biochemistry, nutrition, physiology, immunology and endocrinology to determine what factors control color intensity. They couple these approaches with behavioral, ecological and evolutionary studies, both in the field and the lab, to evaluate how and why animal colors function in visual communication.
Professor McGraw and his team's interests continue to expand to include diverse avian groups (e.g. penguins, hummingbirds, parrots) and other colorful creatures such as spiders, lizards, and butterflies. Their studies of colors and pigments span all of Tinbergen’s levels of analysis, including adaptive, developmental, and evolutionary aspects.
Education
- PhD, Cornell University, 2003
External Links
Journal Articles
In Press
Weaver, M., P. Hutton and K. J. McGraw. Subdued sound sensitivity in the city: urban house finches (Haemorhous mexicanus) are less averse to novel noises, but not other environmental stimuli, than rural birds. Behaviour
2023
Drake, D. J. and K. J. McGraw. 2023. Variation in plasma protein levels in house finches (Haemorhous mexicanus): Effects of season, disease state, and urbanization. Journal of Ornithology 164:629-638. DOI: 10.1007/s10336-023-02062-y. (link )
2022
McGraw, K. J., V. Aguiar de Souza Penha, D. J. Drake, S. Kraberger and A. Varsani. 2022. Poxvirus infection in house finches (Haemorhous mexicanus): Genome sequence analysis and patterns of infection in wild birds. Tramsbpimdary amd Emerging Diseases 69(5): e2318-e2328. DOI: 10.1111/tbed.14575. (link )
Weaver, M. J. and K. J. McGraw. 2022. Context-dependent variation in innovation as a function of urbanization in a songbird. Journal of Urban Ecology 8(1):juac029. DOI: 10.1093/jue/juac029. (link )
2021
Arnold, S., M. Weaver and K. J. McGraw. 2021. Ornamental plumage coloration interacts with habtat urbanization to predict problem-solving in the house finch (Haemorhous mexicanus). Acta Ornithologica 56(1):29-37. DOI: 10.3161/00016454AO2021.56.1.003. (link )
Hutton, P., J. McKenna and K. J. McGraw. 2021. Urban links to molt schedule, body condition, and carotenoid-based coloration in the house finch Haemorhous mexicanus. Journal of Avian Biology 52(5):. (link )
Mills, R. and K. J. McGraw. 2021. Cool birds: Facultative use by an introduced species of mechanical air conditioning systems during extremely hot outdoor conditions. Biology Letters 17(3):20200813. DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2020.0813. (link )
Schaper, L., P. Hutton and K. J. McGraw. 2021. Bird-feeder cleaning lowers disease severity in rural but not urban birds. Scientific Reports 11:12835. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-92117-y. (link )
2020
McGraw, K. J., K. Chou, A. Bridge, H. C. McGraw, P. R. McGraw and R. Simpson. 2020. Body condition and poxvirus infection predict circulating glucose levels in a colorful songbird that inhabits urban and rural environments. Journal of Experimental Zoology Part A: Ecological and Integrative Physiology 333(8):561– 568. DOI: 10.1002/jez.2391. (link )
Sykes, B. E., P. Hutton and K. J. McGraw. 2020. Sex-specific relationships between urbanization, parasitism, and plumage coloration in house finches. Current Zoology 67(3):237-244. DOI: 10.1093/cz/zoaa060. (link )
2019
Tardy, L., M. Giraudeau, G. E. Hill, K. J. McGraw and C. Bonneaud. 2019. Contrasting evolution of virulence and replication rate in an emerging bacterial pathogen. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 116(34):16927-16932. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1901556116. (link )
2018
Giraudeau, M., M. Toomey, P. Hutton and K. J. McGraw. 2018. Expression of and choice for condition-dependent carotenoid-based color in an urbanizing context. Behavioral Ecology 29(6):1307–1315. DOI: 10.1093/beheco/ary093. (link )
Hutton, P., C. D. Wright, D. F. DeNardo and K. J. McGraw. 2018. No effect of human presence at night on disease, body mass, or metabolism in rural and urban House Finches (Haemorhous mexicanaus). Integrative & Comparative Biology icy093. DOI: 10.1093/icb/icy093. (link )
Sepp, T., K. J. McGraw, A. Kaasik and M. Giraudeau. 2018. A review of urban impacts on avian life‐history evolution: Does city living lead to slower pace of life?. Global Change Biology 24(4):1452-1469. DOI: 10.1111/gcb.13969. (link )
Weaver, M., S. Gao and K. J. McGraw. 2018. Circulating corticosterone levels vary during exposure to anthropogenic stimuli and show weak correlation with behavior across an urban gradient in house finches (Haemorhous mexicanus). General and Comparative Endocrinology 266(Sep):52-59. DOI: 10.1016/j.ygcen.2018.04.017. (link )
Weaver, M., R. A. Ligon, M. Mousel and K. J. McGraw. 2018. Avian anthrophobia? Behavioral and physiological responses of house finches (Haemorhous mexicanus) to human and predator threats across an urban gradient. Landscape and Urban Planning 179(Nov):46-54. DOI: 10.1016/j.landurbplan.2018.07.001. (link )
2017
Cook, M. O., M. J. Weaver, P. Hutton and K. J. McGraw. 2017. The effects of urbanization and human disturbance on problem solving in juvenile house finches (Haemorhous mexicanus). Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 71:Art. 85. DOI: 10.1007/s00265-017-2304-6. (link )
Giraudeau, M., R. Stikeleather, J. McKenna, P. Hutton and K. J. McGraw. 2017. Plumage micro-organisms and preen gland size in an urbanizing context. Science of the Total Environment 580(Feb):425-429. DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.09.224. (link )
2016
Hutton, P. and K. J. McGraw. 2016. Urban impacts on oxidative balance and animal signals. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 4:Art. 54. DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2016.00054. (link )
Hutton, P. and K. J. McGraw. 2016. Urban-rural differences in eye, bill, and skull allometry in House Finches (Haemorhous mexicanus). Integrative Comparative Biology 56(6):1215-1224. DOI: 10.1093/icb/icw077. (link )
2015
Giraudeau, M., A. Chavez, M. B. Toomey and K. J. McGraw. 2015. Effects of carotenoid supplementation and oxidative challenges on physiological parameters and carotenoid-based coloration in an urbanization context. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 69(6):957-970. DOI: 10.1007/s00265-015-1908-y. (link )
2014
Giraudeau, M. and K. J. McGraw. 2014. Physiological correlates of urbanization in a desert songbird. Integrative & Comparative Biology DOI: 10.1093/icb/icu024. (link )
Giraudeau, M., M. Mousel, S. R. Earl and K. J. McGraw. 2014. Parasites in the city: Degree of urbanization predicts poxvirus and coccidian infections in House Finches (Haemorhous mexicanus). PLOS One 9(2):e86747. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0086747. (link )
Giraudeau, M., P. M. Nolan, C. E. Black, M. Hasegawa, S. R. Earl and K. J. McGraw. 2014. Song characteristics track bill morphology along a gradient of urbanization in house finches (Haemorhous mexicanus). Frontiers in Zoology 11:Art. 83. DOI: 10.1186/s12983-014-0083-8. (link )
2008
Deviche, P. J., K. J. McGraw and J. Underwood. 2008. Season-, sex-, and age-specific accumulation of plasma carotenoid pigments in free-ranging white-winged crossbills Loxia leucoptera. Journal of Avian Biology 39(3):283-292. DOI: 10.1111/j.0908-8857.2008.04164.x. (link )
2005
Deviche, P. J., K. J. McGraw and E. C. Greiner. 2005. Interspecific differences in hematozoan infection in Sonoran Desert Aimophila sparrows. Journal of Wildlife Diseases 41(3):532-541. DOI: 10.7589/0090-3558-41.3.532. (link )
Book Chapters
2020
Sepp, T., K. J. McGraw and M. Giraudeau. 2020. Urban sexual selection. Pp. Chapter 14 In: Szulkin, M., J. Munshi-South and A. Charmantier eds., Urban Evolutionary Biology. Oxford University Press. ISBN: 9780198836841. (link )
Posters
2020
Webb, E. and K. J. McGraw. 2020. Variation in carotenoid profiles in relation to life history strategy in urban house finches. Poster presented at the Twenty-second Annual CAP LTER All Scientists Meeting and Poster Symposium, January 17, 2020, Skysong, Scottsdale, AZ. (link )
2016
Hutton, P. and K. J. McGraw. 2016. Coping with light pollution: Sleep, stress, and sickness in city songbirds. Poster presented at the Central Arizona-Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research Eighteenth Annual All Scientists Meeting and Poster Symposium, 15 January 2016, Skysong, Scottsdale, AZ. (link )
Weaver, M. and K. J. McGraw. 2016. Bold urbanites and shy hilllbillies? Variation in novel environment exploration in Haemorhous mexicanus. Poster presented at the Central Arizona-Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research Eighteenth Annual All Scientists Meeting and Poster Symposium, 15 January 2016, Skysong, Scottsdale, AZ. (link )
2015
Hutton, P. and K. J. McGraw. 2015. Urbanization alters molt dynamics in a common desert songbird. Poster presented at the Seventeenth Annual CAP LTER All Scientists Meeting and Poster Symposium, 16 January 2015, Skysong, Scottsdale, AZ. (link )
2013
Mousel, M., M. Giraudeau and K. J. McGraw. 2013. Parasites in the city. Poster presented at the 11 January 2013, 15th Annual CAP LTER Poster Symposium and All Scientist Meeting 2013, Skysong, Scottsdale, AZ. (link )
Weaver, M., K. J. McGraw and M. Mousel. 2013. Avian anthrophobia? Stress response of House Finches (Haemorhous mexicanus) across an urban gradient in the presence of humans. Poster presented at the 11 January 2013, 15th Annual CAP LTER Poster Symposium and All Scientist Meeting 2013, Skysong, Scottsdale, AZ. (link )
2012
Weaver, M., M. Giraudeau and K. J. McGraw. 2012. Response to predator scent by House Finches across an urban-rural gradient. Poster presented at 13 January 2012 CAP LTER 14th Annual Poster Symposium and All Scientist Meeting, Global Institute of Sustainability, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ. (link )
Presentations
2020
Carlson, C., M. Franco, L. K. Herrmann and K. J. McGraw. 2020. Districtwide impact through leveraging the research experience for teachers. Presentation at the Harnessing the Ecological Data Revolution, 2020 ESA Annual Meeting, August 3-6, 2020, Virtual meeting. (link )