LEWISTON – Loren Hayes, assistant professor of behavioral ecology at the University of Louisiana at Monroe, will visit Bates College to discuss his research into rodent nesting behaviors at 4:10 p.m. Wednesday, March 22, in Room 204, Carnegie Science Hall, 44 Campus Ave.

The annual William Sawyer Lecture in Biology, Hayes’ talk is titled “Ecological Correlates and Fitness Consequences of Rodent Sociality” and is open to the public at no cost.

Hayes is a member of the Bates class of 1996. His research involves prairie voles, animals that nest either as mating pairs or in communal settings. Hayes seeks to understand the costs and benefits associated with communal nesting.

The William Sawyer Memorial Biology Lecture Fund was established by Dr. Carl E. Andrews, Bates class of 1940, to honor William H. Sawyer Jr., class of 1913, who taught biology at Bates from 1916 to 1962.