Education
PhD candidate (anticipated completion: 2024)
Integrative Conservation / Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources
University of Georgia
M.S., Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology
Eastern Michigan University
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B.S., Biology
Metropolitan State University of Denver
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B.A., Sociology
Calvin College
M.S. research: Urban effects on overwintering American Goldfinches
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For my master's thesis research, I investigated how cities impact goldfinch distribution on the landscape and hormonal responses to stressors during harsh midwestern winters at the northern edge of their range. It has been suggested (for American Goldfinches and numerous other songbirds, particularly those that commonly use backyard bird feeders) that urban areas have facilitated northward winter range expansions-- independent of changing winter climate conditions-- due to provision of supplemental food and heat island effects/microhabitat refugia that mitigate the strain of winter conditions. Many studies are based on data from bird count programs that have a bias towards urban/suburban areas, however, making it difficult to infer if it's the cities driving those range expansions or if goldfinches are similarly overwintering in rural areas outside of their historic distribution. I conducted 300 point-count surveys across the latitudinal extent of Michigan, and across more-developed and rural areas, in two periods of winter 2016 to document goldfinch winter habitat use and analyze if there indeed existed an interaction of latitude and reliance on urban environments. I followed up that field season with an analysis of baseline and stress-induced plasma corticosterone (CORT) concentrations in goldfinches trapped in urban and rural settings during winter 2017, seeking to uncover if birds using more developed areas have different CORT profiles than those overwintering in rural habitat.
Additional research experience
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My wildlife field experience has involved a variety of ecosystems in widely distributed parts of the continental U.S., a broad range of (primarily vertebrate) focal animal taxa, and diverse land-use settings.
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Some highlights include:
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Monitoring, carrying out research, and providing recommendations for ongoing management of a Burrowing Owl breeding population on a busy military base
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Capture-mark-recapture population study of terrestrial snakes, montane and pond-breeding salamanders
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Sampling ephemeral wetland- and stream-associated amphibian communities on National Park Service properties and regional public lands throughout the mid-Atlantic states
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Telemetry of prairie-dwelling small mammals to improve translocation outcomes
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Collecting pathogen and hormone samples as part of monitoring of emergent pathogens and to contribute to understanding of how land use impacts amphibian immune function
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Documenting prey availability and testing approaches to improve detection of an isolated population of a semi-aquatic snake at the edge of the species distribution
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Seining salt marsh tidal creeks as part of long-term research on Diamondback Terrapin populations
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Documenting presence of federally endangered and more-common salamander species to inform research on occurrence and habitat use, interspecific interactions, and abundance.
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