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.
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
- If you live in the Amherst area, come visit our museum exhibit, led by lab PhD student Rozy Bathrick, about the Bird Safe UMass project. The exhibit outlines what we have learned about bird-window collisions on campus and how best to address the issue in Massachusetts and beyond. It's also got cool interactive components and an architectural history of windows -- in other words, it has it all! The exhibit is open every day from 9:00-4:00 in the Olver Design Building on the UMass campus. You can also read more about the exhibit here or help us monitor bird-window collisions on campus by submitting your data here.
- Every few years, just when you think it's finally spring, a late winter storm will hit. These storms can often snarl travel and challenge human infrastructures, but how do they affect migratory birds and other wildlife? Combining 27 years of citizen science data, genomic tools, and museum specimens collected during the 'Great Texas Freeze' of 2021, our team answered just that question for Purple Martins. In a paper out now in Nature Ecology and Evolution led by lab collaborator Dr. Maria Stager, we found that the storm likely killed returning Purple Martins at 53% of their breeding sites in Texas and Louisiana, comprising up to 27% of their population in those two states. What's more the loss of those individuals led to marked shifts in allele frequencies across the martin genome. These demographic consequences are likely to take martins years, or even decades, to recover from. Taken together, our results show how just one late winter storm can have profound impacts on even large, healthy populations, let alone the smaller populations of more vulnerable species.
- Welcome to new lab member, Dr. Kayla Davis! Kayla is joining our team a postdoctoral researcher to work on a population viability analysis for Roseate Terns, with a particular focus on the potential effects of offshore wind energy development on tern movements. This a new research area for the lab, so we're keen to learn from Kayla's long history of working with the species!
nsenner at umass.edu
Mass Audubon Bertrand Chair for Ornithology
Department of Environmental Conservation
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Holdsworth Hall 219
Amherst, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
Mass Audubon Bertrand Chair for Ornithology
Department of Environmental Conservation
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Holdsworth Hall 219
Amherst, Massachusetts, U.S.A.