⚠️ Call for independent study students (Sierra Dome spider project).
⚠️ Spring 2026 course opportunity — The Evolution of Religiosity — scroll down for details and syllabus.
⚠️ Website update in progress — full site under construction.
Website Update in Progress
The official website for Dr. Paul J. Watson is transferring to a new home.
Please check back soon to see the updated site, including course information, publications, and research opportunities.
Independent Study Research Invitation – Summer 2026
I am seeking one or two independent study students for the summer of 2026 to work with me for 8 weeks or more at
Flathead Lake Biological Station. I have had many fine assistants over the years
helping me study the Sierra Dome Spider. But now, I am looking for individuals who, in addition to wanting a grad school prep research experience,
could seriously consider continuing the deep study of the Sierra Dome spider’s sexual selection system as a central part of their
life’s work, as I have done. In other words, at the age of 68, still healthy and loving the work, I am looking for a scientific heir.
There is massive opportunity available to the right person to continue studying this amazing model system long-term:
solidifying and expanding behavioral observations (including female-specific sperm utilization patterns),
adding new research elements needed to fully characterize the complexity of this mating system and to elucidate its evolution.
My emphasis now, since 2024, is documenting not just species-typical patterns of intra- and intersexual behaviors,
but also the diverse ways that individuals of both sexes develop to optimize both mind and body in an integrated way
for playing the mating game.
There is also potential for a wide range of not just relevant but essential molecular biological investigations — for example,
exploring how rickettsial diseases have affected the evolution of the mating system and individual development,
and how microbiomes and their interactions with genotypes and gene expression patterns influence individual developmental optimizations —
how everything from genes to microbes shapes the “personality development” of individual spiders in ecological time.
As part of this offer, I seek coauthors to assist me in publishing a considerable backlog of material —
ranging from copious raw data (e.g., on individual variation in courtship energetics) to almost completed manuscripts.
I would only claim secondary or last authorship.
It is exceedingly rare to find a complex sexual selection system so fantastically observable and manipulable
in both the field and the lab: Consider letting me show YOU the ropes and hand off this stunning model study system
to YOU, young investigator. Time is limited. I have limited but appreciable funds to help support you
as you join me in continuing this unusually long-term and in-depth research.
Lucky Sighting of a Double Sperm Web. Constructed in the dome of a female's web between copulatory courtship and insemination phase copulation in the Sierra Dome spider. Join me in continuing the study, and you too can be this lucky.
Sierra Dome spider (adult instar). Male left, female right.
Dr. Paul J. Watson is Associate Professor of Biology at the University of New Mexico
and a Faculty Affiliate of the Flathead Lake Biological Station in northwestern Montana,
where he has worked since 1980. Over decades, he has taught animal behavior courses and conducted
long-term research on the Sierra Dome spider’s sexual selection system, as well as many other shorter-term studies.
The extensive background dataset collected on the Sierra Dome, together with many other features of this spider species,
not least its exceptional observability and manipulability in field and lab, offers future investigators a uniquely powerful foundation
for asking truly cutting-edge questions of broad interest about the evolution of this species’ behavior.
Spring 2026 – BIOL 419/519 Section 2: The Evolution of Religiosity and Human Coalitional Psychology
This is a three-credit-hour seminar offered through the Department of Biology and cross-listed as
Psychology 450 and Religious Studies 447. The course examines the evolutionary origins and adaptive significance
of religiosity and human coalitionary psychology, exploring how deeply rooted cognitive and emotional systems shape human
spirituality, moral reasoning, and group behavior.
Meeting Schedule: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. Location: Room 258, Castetter Hall (Biology Building).
Enrollment Details: Maximum enrollment is 22 students. Admission is by permission of instructor only.
Interested students should contact Dr. Watson by email (pwatson@unm.edu)
to arrange a brief conversation—by phone or in person—prior to receiving permission to enroll.
Contact Information:
Dr. Paul J. Watson
Department of Biology, University of New Mexico
📧 Email: pwatson@unm.edu
📱 Phone: 505-681-3391
Course Description:
Now entering its 17th edition, this unique evolutionary psychology seminar investigates both the evolutionary origins and potential
adaptive significance of cross-cultural, species-typical aspects of religious experience, belief, and practice. The course is a science
seminar that also encourages evolutionarily informed introspection and self-discovery. It is not an assault on religious belief
but an exploration of how far we can go using modern Darwinian and Hamiltonian evolutionary theory to understand our powerful but
contingent spiritual drives.
