Katherine Louise "Kate" Buchanan is an avian behavioural ecologist currently working in Deakin University's School of Life and Environment Sciences. Her research focuses on investigating how sexual selection has shaped the evolution of complex songs in birds and ultimately how this is reflected in the evolution of the brain itself.
In early 2008, Buchanan took a position at Deakin University, Australia, at the Geelong campus, where she works within the Centre for Integrative Ecology.[3] She was awarded an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship in 2014.[4] Buchanan is currently editor-in-chief of BirdLife Australia's scientific ornithology journal Emu.[5]
She is most well known for her work on early development in songbirds and the effects of early developmental stress on the song system[6] and genetic and environmental control of sexual signals.[7] However, she has interests in the interactions between early development and control of the stress related behaviour and physiology[8] and whether immunocompetence can mediate the costs of sexual traits.[9] Her work has demonstrated the effects of the exposure of wild birds to endocrine disrupters in terms of both behaviour and physiology.[10][11]
^Robers, M. L.; Buchanan, K. L.; Evans, M. R. (2004). "Testing the immunocompetence handicap hypothesis: a review of the evidence". Animal Behaviour. 68 (2): 227–239. doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2004.05.001. S2CID9549459.