Dr. Deby Cassill, associate professor in the USF College of Arts and Sciences Department of Integrative Biology, has focused her academic research career on better understanding the 鈥渟ecrets鈥� of animal behavior and how it can tell us more about our own human nature.
Cassill credits her insatiable sense of 鈥渃uriosity鈥� and a love of 鈥渟tudying in a closet鈥� as she marched her way through a variety of academic degrees. She holds a bachelor鈥檚, master鈥檚, and doctoral degree in biology from Florida State University, in addition to an MPA degree from University of West Florida, a teaching certificate in special education from Rollins College, and a bachelor's in psychology from the University of Iowa.
鈥淚n the 70s and 80s, I worked at Tallahassee headquarters on community mental health programs and then shifted to containing the cost of health care by bringing in the HMOs. One evening while watching a David Attenborough documentary on TV with my family, I announced, 鈥業 wanted to be doing biology, not just watching it.鈥� So, I consigned myself to nine years of hard labor from classroom to closet to classroom as I retooled my skill set to become a research biologist,鈥� she explained.
Based on the USF St. Petersburg campus, she鈥檚 focused her research on two key areas: first, understanding the 鈥渢riggers鈥� of animal and insect behavior including cooperation, sharing, altruism, competition, stealing, murder, and predation; and second, developing a theory of maternal investments. Why do sea turtle mothers abandon their eggs? Why do sharks abandon their pups after birth? Why do elephants feed and protect their calves until they are adults, able to survive on their own?
(Photo source: Adobe Stock)
鈥淢y maternal investment model poses an answer. Stay tuned!鈥� she said.
鈥淎nimal behavior has always been my passion,鈥� she explains. 鈥淓specially the behavior of social animals. I chose to work with ants because I could set up life and death situations with impunity to determine who survived and who did not. As kids, my brothers hunted birds, rabbits and squirrels. I watched ants until the sun set or I got hungry. In the 6th grade, I won a purple ribbon on an ant project. Ants were always fascinating creatures. I never dreamed that one day I would find a job that paid me to study them and discover their many secrets. How lucky I am I? I won鈥檛 stop studying ants until they reveal to me why they are such a contradiction of fighting to the death with neighbors and yet they help the wounded?鈥�
For two decades, Cassill has published research that has added 鈥渂ricks to the foundation鈥� to answer questions 鈥渁bout the origin of altruism.鈥�
鈥淢y theory on the origin of cooperative societies is already published. But a few bricks were missing to extend that theory to explain altruism鈥攚hy we are kind to strangers? Over the next few years, I will publish the 鈥榖ig reveal on altruism.鈥欌��
Her other projects include the maternal investments in sharks, whales (cetaceans), sea turtles, snakes, crocodiles, fish, coral and more.
Cassill added that in Charles Darwin鈥檚 theory of evolution, he provides 鈥渁n elegant explanation for the fission of populations into diverse species. Females produce more offspring than can survive. Most offspring starve. Only a few of the 鈥榝ittest鈥� survive to sexual maturity. Darwin did not address the fusion of parent and offspring into family units, or the fusion of family units into societies. My maternal investment model predicts the risk factors that favor the evolution of family units and societies. Next on my plate is the big reveal on the origin of altruism.鈥�
Alexis Masnjak, a graduate student who studied parental care among fire ant males, female queens, and female worker-siblings with Cassill. (Photo courtesy of Cassill)
Once that is published, Cassill hopes to give talks to business leaders on what it takes for the long-term survival of high-function, hierarchical companies.
鈥淟ong-term survival requires transparent, non-lethal competition for resources during the springtime glut. Those that gain more must share with those in need during the winter paucity. Communication is transparent up, down, and sideways within the hierarchy. This is what high-function hierarchical organizations must do to survive long-term. This is an idea worth sharing, is it not?鈥� she adds.
Cassill鈥檚 research has led to numerous community invites including community clubs at the Villages, the Dali Museum, and 鈥楴erd Nights鈥� in downtown St. Petersburg.
鈥淎ll animals must find food. All animals reproduce. I am lucky enough to have compelling stories to tell about food and sex,鈥� she said.
While her passion for animal behavior has driven her academic career, she鈥檚 thankful for the career she鈥檚 been able to lead while at USF and the impact she also is able to have on students.
In addition to being a repeat donor for graduate student scholarships, she鈥檚 also served as a faculty representative of the (SOCAT) Team for 15 years, an organization formed to help students cope with anxieties, depression, and other stressors that are 鈥渁ll a part of their transitions from life within their family to a productive life within their community.鈥�
鈥淲orking as a faculty member within the USF system has been a privileged career for me. Our custodial staff keep our spaces clean. Our facilities staff keep our building safe. Our police persons keep our campus safe. Our administrators keep our whole organization functioning. But it is our students who are the reason that we all have a great place to work. They are the VIPs of our campus,鈥� she said.
Learn more about Cassil鈥檚 research and the Department of Integrative Biology.