What we do

Our lab is interested in how animals and their communities respond to stressors in their environment. We answer this in terms of physiology (e.g., hormones, parasites, immune response, body condition, isotopes), ecology (e.g., diversity, abundance, productivity), life history (e.g., reproductive success, survival), and behavior.

The big questions of our research are: 

(1) What are the physiological mechanisms that mediate between stressor perception and phenotypic change?

(2) What are the short-term and long-term behavioral, physiological, and fitness consequences of these changes? And how do these changes affect the larger population and community?

(3) How does the impact of these stressors vary based on life stage (e.g., young, breeding adult, non-breeding adult) and life history?

We use a variety of avian systems to answer these questions including passerines, seabirds, shorebirds, marsh birds, and waterfowl.

Interested in joining the lab?