Zach Laubach's research is grounded in behavioral ecology and evolutionary biology. In particular, he tries to understand the ways in which early life environments shape phenotype. He is drawn to questions that explore the interrelations among social behaviors, molecular mechanisms, and stress physiology. He uses tools from diverse fields, including molecular biology and physiology to identify proximate mechanisms of animal behaviors and phenotypes; and causal inference methods from epidemiology to better understand relationships gleaned from observational data. He has carried out his research in birds, hyenas, and humans.