Our research uses movement ecology as a framework to understand how individuals and populations respond to changes in their environment in order to project how future change may alter a population’s dynamics and evolutionary trajectory. ​
Our Philosophy
​The natural world knows no political boundaries. That means that we are all stakeholders in the conservation of our biodiversity and our lab welcomes the involvement of anyone and everyone, no matter where they come from or how they identify themselves. We are also working to overcome our own biases, as well as those that have long prevailed in the scientific and conservation communities, by learning from and engaging with the communities whose lives intersect with the species we study.

Breaking News

  • Phenological mismatches between predators and their prey are one of the most commonly documented consequences of climate change, but they have surprisingly had inconsistent effects on the population dynamics of predator species. In the second chapter from Luke Wilde's MSc thesis just published in Ecology, he shows that accounting for variation in the energetic demands of young Hudsonian Godwits can help link the individual-level effects of mismatches with the population-level ones. His results will hopefully help to pinpoint those populations for whom mismatches may lead to local climate change-induced declines.
  • The governor of South Carolina has decided not to allow increased horseshoe crab harvest this year in the ACE Basin! This is a major win for shorebirds! You can read all about the controversy and our lab's research showing why the region is so critical to rufa Red Knots.
  • Congrats to lab undergraduate student Matt Duggan on being awarded a Graduate Research Fellowship from NSF! Check out Matt's work on machine learning approaches to camera trap data and stay tuned for much more!​
senner at mailbox.sc.edu
Department of Biological Sciences
University of South Carolina​
Coker Life Sciences 406
Columbia, South Carolina, U.S.A.

Want to make a donation to graduate student research in the lab? Go here and search for "Migratory Shorebird Research Fund".