Senner and Stager Lab Gathering.
(L:R) Julian Garcia-Walther, Feipeng Huang, Rozy Bathrick, Nathan Senner, Lauren Puleo, Maria Stager, Maina Handmaker, and Cory Elowe. (Not pictured: Jenny Linscott and Fernando Faria)
(L:R) Julian Garcia-Walther, Feipeng Huang, Rozy Bathrick, Nathan Senner, Lauren Puleo, Maria Stager, Maina Handmaker, and Cory Elowe. (Not pictured: Jenny Linscott and Fernando Faria)
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Nathan Senner, Assistant Professor
Nathan started studying birds at the age of 14. After earning a B.A. from Carleton College, he was awarded a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship to follow Hudsonian Godwits on their annual migration from the Arctic to the southern tip of South America and back. He continued this research while pursuing his PhD at Cornell University with Dr. John Fitzpatrick. From there, he traveled across the Atlantic for a postdoc with Dr. Theunis Piersma at the University of Groningen studying the flexibility of Black-tailed Godwit annual cycles. Following that, he was a postdoc at the University of Montana with Dr. Zachary Cheviron investigating the population dynamics of high-elevation deer mice. In his free time, Nathan trains with his running partner, Oliver (three-time canine champion of the Snow Joke Half Marathon and inarguably Montana's fastest dog). |
PostDocs and Graduate Students:
Brett Addis, Post-Doctoral Fellow
Brett received her B.A. from Whitman College in Biology-Environmental Studies. After working as a field technician in southeastern Alaska and the Mojave Desert, Brett returned to her hometown of Missoula, Montana to pursue her M.S. and PhD with Winsor Lowe at the University of Montana. Her PhD research focused on understanding the drivers and consequences of variation in dispersal distance in the spring salamander Gyrinophilus porphyriticus. Brett continued amphibian population ecology research as a postdoc at the University of Wyoming, where she estimated occupancy trends for six amphibian species of conservation concern across Wyoming and northern Colorado. Making the leap from amphibians to mammals, Brett is excited to join the Senner lab to investigate the effects of botfly infection on deer mouse population dynamics along an elevational gradient in the Rockies.
Brett received her B.A. from Whitman College in Biology-Environmental Studies. After working as a field technician in southeastern Alaska and the Mojave Desert, Brett returned to her hometown of Missoula, Montana to pursue her M.S. and PhD with Winsor Lowe at the University of Montana. Her PhD research focused on understanding the drivers and consequences of variation in dispersal distance in the spring salamander Gyrinophilus porphyriticus. Brett continued amphibian population ecology research as a postdoc at the University of Wyoming, where she estimated occupancy trends for six amphibian species of conservation concern across Wyoming and northern Colorado. Making the leap from amphibians to mammals, Brett is excited to join the Senner lab to investigate the effects of botfly infection on deer mouse population dynamics along an elevational gradient in the Rockies.
Rozy Bathrick, PhD Student
Rozy hails from the foggy coast of central California, where she graduated with a B.A. in Environmental Studies from the University of California Santa Cruz. After graduating, Rozy worked as an assistant to field ecology courses for undergraduate students and as a project leader on a seabird colony for Oikonos Ecosystem Knowledge. For her PhD research, Rozy is tracking the fall migration of shorebird species in three genera: Pluvialis (golden-plovers), Limnodromus (dowitchers), and Tringa (yellowlegs). Different breeding latitudes, migratory routes, stopover strategies, and wintering destinations influence the success of these vulnerable populations, and Rozy hopes to understand some of these complex distinctions as well as inform conservation efforts.
Rozy hails from the foggy coast of central California, where she graduated with a B.A. in Environmental Studies from the University of California Santa Cruz. After graduating, Rozy worked as an assistant to field ecology courses for undergraduate students and as a project leader on a seabird colony for Oikonos Ecosystem Knowledge. For her PhD research, Rozy is tracking the fall migration of shorebird species in three genera: Pluvialis (golden-plovers), Limnodromus (dowitchers), and Tringa (yellowlegs). Different breeding latitudes, migratory routes, stopover strategies, and wintering destinations influence the success of these vulnerable populations, and Rozy hopes to understand some of these complex distinctions as well as inform conservation efforts.
Kayla Davis, Post-Doctoral Fellow
Kayla received her M.S. from Virginia Tech and completed her Ph.D. at Michigan State University, where her research focused on avian demography and population dynamics. Her work combines long-term monitoring data with integrated modeling approaches to understand how survival, reproduction, and movement shape population change across space and time. As a postdoctoral researcher, Kayla is interested in developing and applying novel quantitative methods to address conservation-relevant questions. Her current research focuses on estimating demographic rates of Roseate Terns to evaluate how future offshore wind energy development may influence population viability, with the goal of informing science-based management and conservation decisions.
Take a look at Kayla's personal webpage!
Kayla received her M.S. from Virginia Tech and completed her Ph.D. at Michigan State University, where her research focused on avian demography and population dynamics. Her work combines long-term monitoring data with integrated modeling approaches to understand how survival, reproduction, and movement shape population change across space and time. As a postdoctoral researcher, Kayla is interested in developing and applying novel quantitative methods to address conservation-relevant questions. Her current research focuses on estimating demographic rates of Roseate Terns to evaluate how future offshore wind energy development may influence population viability, with the goal of informing science-based management and conservation decisions.
Take a look at Kayla's personal webpage!
Paul Dougherty, Post-Doctoral Fellow
Paul received his B.A. in Biology and Classics from Colby College and his PhD from the University of Wyoming, where he worked with Matt Carling. His graduate work explored how adaptive variation in molting strategies contributes to reproductive isolation and speciation in birds. He also studied how ongoing shifts in the North American monsoon are influencing bird populations that have evolved to molt in the monsoonal region. Having come to see molt as the most interesting thing that birds do, he is now studying the environmental and genetic regulatory mechanisms of molt, using Lazuli Buntings as a model. He hopes that this research will enable us to begin incorporating molt into management strategies.
Paul is supported by an NSF Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship in Biology.
Check out Paul's personal webpage!
Paul received his B.A. in Biology and Classics from Colby College and his PhD from the University of Wyoming, where he worked with Matt Carling. His graduate work explored how adaptive variation in molting strategies contributes to reproductive isolation and speciation in birds. He also studied how ongoing shifts in the North American monsoon are influencing bird populations that have evolved to molt in the monsoonal region. Having come to see molt as the most interesting thing that birds do, he is now studying the environmental and genetic regulatory mechanisms of molt, using Lazuli Buntings as a model. He hopes that this research will enable us to begin incorporating molt into management strategies.
Paul is supported by an NSF Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship in Biology.
Check out Paul's personal webpage!
Maina Handmaker, PhD Student
Maina earned her B.A. in Environmental Studies and Visual Arts from Bowdoin College. She joined the Senner Lab from the Manomet Shorebird Recovery Program team, where she worked as the Communications Specialist for the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network (WHSRN). For her PhD research, Maina is studying the role nocturnal roost sites play in the stopover ecology and migratory performance of Atlantic flyway Whimbrel. By tracking Whimbrel movements during and after their spring stopover on the coast of South Carolina, she is investigating how individuals select foraging and roosting sites and working to better understand how those choices influence their entire annual cycle. Maina hopes this new information about Whimbrel migratory behavior can inform targeted conservation action to help turn the tide for this declining species.
Maina is supported by an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship.
Check out Maina's Personal Webpage and Whimbrel story map!
Maina earned her B.A. in Environmental Studies and Visual Arts from Bowdoin College. She joined the Senner Lab from the Manomet Shorebird Recovery Program team, where she worked as the Communications Specialist for the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network (WHSRN). For her PhD research, Maina is studying the role nocturnal roost sites play in the stopover ecology and migratory performance of Atlantic flyway Whimbrel. By tracking Whimbrel movements during and after their spring stopover on the coast of South Carolina, she is investigating how individuals select foraging and roosting sites and working to better understand how those choices influence their entire annual cycle. Maina hopes this new information about Whimbrel migratory behavior can inform targeted conservation action to help turn the tide for this declining species.
Maina is supported by an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship.
Check out Maina's Personal Webpage and Whimbrel story map!
Feipeng Huang, MSc Student
Feipeng was born and raised in eastern China along the coast of the Yellow Sea. There he watched shorebirds use the region's shrinking wetlands and found his passion for birds and conservation. He has also led citizen-based raptor migration counts in southwest China and helped monitor the by-catch mortality of shorebirds across China’s coast. In 2022, Feipeng received his B.S. in Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology from UC Davis. For his MSc. research, he hopes to understand how Hudsonian Godwit chicks respond to a dynamic landscape of resource availability and predation risk under environmental change.
Feipeng was born and raised in eastern China along the coast of the Yellow Sea. There he watched shorebirds use the region's shrinking wetlands and found his passion for birds and conservation. He has also led citizen-based raptor migration counts in southwest China and helped monitor the by-catch mortality of shorebirds across China’s coast. In 2022, Feipeng received his B.S. in Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology from UC Davis. For his MSc. research, he hopes to understand how Hudsonian Godwit chicks respond to a dynamic landscape of resource availability and predation risk under environmental change.
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Teresa Pegan, Post-Doctoral Fellow
Teresa received a B.A. from Cornell University and completed her PhD at the University of Michigan, advised by Benjamin Winger. Her doctoral work investigated the evolutionary consequences of seasonal migration strategy in boreal forest birds, with a focus on comparative population genomics. Teresa is broadly interested in linking natural history and organismal knowledge with genomic methods to generate new insights into evolution, and she is excited to apply this framework to study long-distance migration in shorebirds. Her research aims to explore the genomic adaptations that facilitate the incredible migrations of shorebirds, and to better understand how migration influences population genetic processes relevant to adaptation and population persistence. Teresa is supported by an NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology and is co-sponsored by the lab of Scott Edwards at Harvard. Check out Teresa's Personal Webpage! |
Laura Torezan, PhD student
Laura earned her B.S. in Biology from the Universidade Estadual de Londrina, in southern Brazil. While an undergraduate, she was also an intern and later on a consultant at the Shorebird Conservation Program at SAVE Brasil, a Brazilian conservation NGO. Laura has a MSc. in Ecology and Biodiversity Conservation from the Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz, where she conducted research on the influence of urbanization on mangrove bird diversity. In parallel to her main MSc. research, she also conducted an assessment of shorebird habitat loss in Brazil. For her PhD research, she hopes to understand what drives Willet and Whimbrel population dynamics throughout their annual cycles.
Check out Laura's ResearchGate Profile and a writeup of her research by the Rufford Foundation!
Laura earned her B.S. in Biology from the Universidade Estadual de Londrina, in southern Brazil. While an undergraduate, she was also an intern and later on a consultant at the Shorebird Conservation Program at SAVE Brasil, a Brazilian conservation NGO. Laura has a MSc. in Ecology and Biodiversity Conservation from the Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz, where she conducted research on the influence of urbanization on mangrove bird diversity. In parallel to her main MSc. research, she also conducted an assessment of shorebird habitat loss in Brazil. For her PhD research, she hopes to understand what drives Willet and Whimbrel population dynamics throughout their annual cycles.
Check out Laura's ResearchGate Profile and a writeup of her research by the Rufford Foundation!
Lab Graduates:
- Matt Duggan, BSc 2022 from the University of South Carolina, now a PhD student at Cornell University
- Fernando Faria, PhD 2023 from the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande, now postdoc at Federal University of Rio Grande
- Julián Garía-Walther, PhD 2025 from UMass Amherst, now director of the Bird Laboratory at Pronatura Noroeste
- Jennifer Linscott, PhD 2025 from UMass Amherst, now postdoc at the University of South Carolina
- Sara Padula, BSc 2022 from the University of South Carolina, now a PhD Student at the University of Colorado, Boulder
- Maggie Pelton, BSc 2022 from the University of South Carolina, now a researcher at the Baruch Marine Institute
- Lauren Puleo, MSc 2024 from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, now an environmental educator in Fairbanks, AK.
- Eden Smith, BSc 2024, from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, now a biological researcher in Arcata, CA.
- Rose Swift, PhD 2018 from Cornell University, coadvised with Amanda Rodewald, now a researcher with USGS
- Mo Verhoeven, PhD 2020 from the University of Groningen, coadvised with Theunis Piersma, now a researcher at RSPB
- Luke Wilde, MSc 2021 from the University of South Carolina, now a PhD student at the University of Wyoming
Collaborators:
- Fernando Angulo-Pratalongo, Centro de Ornitología y Biodiversidad
- Zachary Cheviron, University of Montana
- Jorge Gutiérrez, Universidad de Extremadura
- Jose Masero, Universidad de Extremadura
- Johnnie Moore, University of Montana
- Juan Navedo, Universidad Austral de Chile
- Erica Nol, Trent University
- Theunis Piersma, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen
- Felicia Sanders, South Carolina Department of Natural Resources
- Maria Stager, University of Massachusetts Amherst
- Jonathan Velotta, University of Denver