Blog Posts

featured in "Hubbard Brook: The Story of a Forest Ecosystem" book

5/5/2016

"Hubbard Brook: The Story of a Forest Ecosystem" coauthored by Richard Holmes and Gene Likens is now available.

Prepare yourself to be captivated by this wonderful book featuring photo contributions (with credit) from many of the students and field technicians that have worked with us over the years at Hubbard Brook. My time in this beautiful forest has been a drop in the bucket compared to the co-authors.

"For more than 50 years, the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in the White Mountains of New Hampshire has been one of the most intensely studied landscapes on earth. This book highlights many of the important ecological findings amassed during the long-term research conducted there, and considers their regional, national, and global implications."

Learn more

new paper: babbler molecular markers

11/18/2015

New paper published in BMC Research Notes, "Identification and characterization of microsatellite loci in two socially complex old world tropical babblers (Family Timaliidae)". The 16 microsatellite markers described in this paper will be used to assess genetic parentage and relatedness within social groups and describe the genetic mating system of these socially complex species. 🔗

guest lecture in biogeography at UmBC

11/5/2015

Invited to give a guest lecture in Biogeography at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Had fun introducing the "Biogeography of Endemic Rainforest Birds of the Malay Archipelago" to undergraduates. Impressed that they remained alert throughout an 8 a.m. class!

featured in "seeking the wolf tree" children's book

11/1/2015

Hubbard Brook has a new science education book for children and I'm a character in the book (Sara, the bird guide)! I was involved early on as a science advisor and am so happy that it is available now for my nephews and their friends to read and learn about the New England forests.

For more information and Supplementary Teaching Materials:
http://hubbardbrookfoundation.org/classroom-resources/seeking-the-wolf-tree/

Contact the author, Natalie Cleavitt (nlc4 at cornell.edu), for more information.

presented in AOU early professional mini talk symposium

7/30/2015

Invited to present "Evolutionary ecology and phylogenetic basis for extra-pair mating" in the Early Professionals Mini-talk Symposium at the Joint 133rd Annual American Ornithologists’ Union Meeting, 85th Annual Cooper Ornithological Society in Norman, OK

presented at smithsonian ornithology exchange

5/29/2015

Invited to present in the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute's Ornithology Exchange. Included talks from faculty, post-docs, and grads from the Center for Conservation and Evolutionary Genetics, Migratory Bird Center, Natural History Museum, University of Delaware, and University of Maryland-Baltimore. Very inspiring to hear about the cutting-edge ornithological work at these regional institutions!

field expedition: malaysian Borneo

4/6/2015

Just returned from a successful field expedition to Mount Kinabalu for our study of the population genetic structure and mating systems of tropical birds on the island of Borneo.

Enjoy the slideshow!

invited seminar at Hamilton college

2/28/2015

Invited to give a seminar "Adaptive plasticity in reproductive behavior in a changing world" to the Biology Department at Hamilton College in Clinton, NY.

new paper: reproductive investment

1/13/2015

"Experimental food supplementation reveals habitat-dependent male reproductive investment in a migratory bird" was published in the latest issue of Proceedings B. 🔗

new postdoc!

10/1/2014

Starting a postdoctoral fellowship with Robert Fleischer at the Center for Conservation & Evolutionary Genetics, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Washington, D.C.!

presented at joint aou/cos/sco meeting

9/24/2014

Presented "Ecological and temporal constraints affect the opportunity for extra-pair mating in the black-throated blue warbler" at the Joint 132nd Annual American Ornithologists’ Union Meeting, 84th Annual Cooper Ornithological Society, 31st Annual Society of Canadian Ornithologists in Estes Park, CO

new paper: behavioral and hormonal responses to environmental change

7/17/2014

"Phenotypic plasticity in hormonal and behavioural responses to changes in resource conditions in a migratory songbird" was chosen as the Featured Article in the October issue of Animal Behaviour. 🔗

featured in "living bird" magazine

7/15/2014

My research on black-throated blue-warblers and climate change was featured in a recent article published in "Living Bird" released in time for the spring arrival of migratory birds.

"Come with us into the New Hampshire mountains to look in on Black-throated Blue Warbler research. Ecologist Sara Kaiser studied nesting behavior of these dapper warblers and found some optimistic indications that the birds may be flexible enough to cope with gradual climate change." - Gus Axelson

Read the whole story

invited seminar at the smithsonian

2/21/2014

Invited to speak as part of the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute's Seminar Series at the Migratory Bird Center in Washington, D.C.

presented at gordon research conference

1/10/2014

Presented "Role of top-down selection pressure by predators on lay-date adjustment in response to spring temperature" at the Gordon Research Conference, Predator-Prey Interactions: From Genes to Ecosystems to Mental Health in Ventura, CA

invited seminar at rochester birding association

11/1/2013

Presented a talk to the Rochester Birding Association. What a great group of committed birders with deeper interests in avian mating systems. I've decided to donate my speaker fee (I didn't realize I had one) to their local conservation fund.

student poster ranks at national wildlife meeting

10/9/2013

Alisa Muniz ranked in the top 20 best posters in the Undergraduate Student Research in Progress poster competition at The Wildlife Society meeting in Milwaukee, WI for "Spatial and temporal variation in nest predation rates of a migratory songbird across an elevation gradient"