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
- Life at high elevations is tough -- it's cold and there isn't a lot of oxygen to breathe. How should your body respond to such conditions? Well, the typical response is for your blood to boost its hemoglobin concentration and its quantity of red blood cells to carry those hemoglobin. These responses do help, but can also have negative consequences in the long term. We might therefore expect that, in populations adapted to high elevations, these responses might be blunted. Using laboratory acclimation experiments and field sampling from across 4000m of elevation, that's exactly what we find in deer mice -- high-elevation mice have much lower hemoglobin concentrations and red blood cell counts than would low-elevation mice if they were on top of a mountain. Take a look at our new paper in Evolution led by lab collaborator Jon Velotta to learn about why 'thick' blood can be so bad, the ways that high-elevation mice make do with limited oxygen, and how cold temperatures can mediate that equation. It's got it all!
- PhD student Rozy Bathrick and her efforts to track Alaska's shorebirds were featured on KYUK Public Radio from the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta in Alaska. Check it out!
- Sea level rise is often thought of as one of those incremental consequences of climate change whose consequences will mainly be felt some time in the future. In a new paper out in Estuaries and Coasts by Julián García-Walther and colleagues, they show that the future is now. Along the coast of the Baja California Peninsula, increasingly strong El Niño events have combined with recent sea level rise to influence the ability of beach-nesting birds to find safe places to put their nests. In years following winter storms driven by El Niño events, beaches lack stable platforms called berms on which birds can place their nests. Those birds that do try to nest face the risk of having their nests flooded by increasingly high tides. Understanding how sea level rise is already impacting coastal species is thus crucial to conserving this avian community that is frequently facing rapid declines.
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.