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Rory Macklin, MSc
Data scientist
Birds Canada
(Graduated December 2023) For my thesis I used
machine-learning species distribution models to generate
hypotheses and predictions for how biotic interactions
like interspecific competition can affect species
distributions, using a case example species pair of
Black-capped and Chestnut-backed Chickadees, which have
partially overlapping distributions across the Pacific
Northwest. By examining species pairs with "natural
removals" -- areas where a species exists in isolation
from its potential competitor -- we explored whether a
species' distribution and habitat relationships are
consistent with patterns expected under competition.
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Dr. Jenny Muñoz Zapata
Conservation data analyst
Environment and Climate Change Canada
(Graduated December 2023) My research focused
on the ecology and evolution of positive interactions in
communities. For my PhD, I studied the importance of
facilitation as a mechanism that structures tropical
bird communities, using mixed-species flocks. I examined
how participation in mixed-species flocks influences
life history traits and fitness in birds and the
potential costs of social living due to increased rates
of parasitism. I used a phylogenetic approach to study
the evolution of sociality in birds. I believe that the
incorporation of facilitative interactions as a
mechanism structuring communities has the potential to
reform our understanding of diversity.
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Dr.
Mannfred Boehm
Postdoctoral fellow
University of Alberta
(Graduated December 2023) For my PhD, I
studied the intersection of ecology, evolution, and
natural history as it relates to bird-plant
interactions. I focused some of this work on the
evolution of curvature in Centropogon (Campanulaceae) and
Sicklebill hummingbirds (Eutoxeres, Phaethornithinae), and
anthocyanin biosynthesis through the evolution of bird
pollination in Canary Island Lotus (Fabaceae).
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Billi Krochuk, MSc
Data scientist & avian ecologist
Biodiversity Research Initiative
(Graduated September 2022) I am passionate
about African birdlife and the landscapes they occupy. I
am particularly interested in how holistic landscape
investigations can better inform our understanding of
avian community dynamics and patterns of individual
movement. I am also interested in the evolution of
conservation in Africa and how traditional ecological
knowledge and community-based management are
transforming the field. For my MSc, I investigated
aspects of taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic avian
diversity along elevational gradients in Nyungwe and
Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda. |
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Geoffrey Lau (Honours, NSERC USRA)
(Graduted April
2021) For my thesis project, I examined the
relationship between tropical bird host body size and
parasite abundance and community structure. Using data
sets on host size and parasite abundance, I examined
the theory of Island Biogeography as applied to bird
hosts as islands for my Honour's thesis. After
graduation, I began my program at the UBC medical
school!
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Dr.
Micah Scholer
Research analyst
New Zealand Forest Service
(Graduated May 2020) My research draws upon
natural history and demographic modeling to understand
the abiotic and biotic drivers of survival rates in
Neotropical birds and to explore how tropical species
respond to a warming climate. I am also interested in
how patterns of molt and plumage can be applied to
create species-specific aging criteria that can be
incorporated into models of demographic processes. I use
a variety of approaches to investigate these questions,
including occupancy, mark-recapture, and spatial models
using data from long-term bird banding projects.
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Sarah Blake, MSc (non-thesis Masters)
My research interests focused on factors that influence
avian nesting success and development, particularly in
relation to bacteria and fungi in the nest environment.
Across different habitat types, I explored how nest
structure and composition affect hatching and fledging
success as a result of the microbial communities chicks
are exposed to. I am particularly fascinated by how
colour and iridescence of nest lining feathers affects
their decomposition by microbes and how this may provide
the ability to manipulate the microbial community in
nests. Overall nest shape and structure and the use of
plant materials with antimicrobial properties will also
be explored for their effect on nesting success. The aim
of this research is to understand better how avian
conservation can be improved when the importance of
microbes in avian development is taken into
consideration.
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Judy Wu, BSc (Directed studies)
I
studied feather structures and the potential role they
play in thermoregulation. For my directed studies
project, I analyzed feather samples from the Mionectes
flycatcher group to determine whether structural
changes occur along an elevational gradient.
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Macgregor Aubertin-Young, BSc (Honours)
(Graduated May 2019) I studied the diversity of
hummingbird flower mites and patterns of co-occurrence
between particular hummingbird and mite species. These
mites live their lives in flowers and disperse by
mounting the bill of a visiting hummingbird. I tested
whether flower mite species are specific to particular
hummingbird bill morphologies and identified new
species. My Honours thesis was supervised by Quentin
Cronk, but I worked in the Jankowski lab and had their
support through ideas and equipment.
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Laura Dyck-Chan, BSc (Honours)
(Graduated
May 2017) For my Honour's thesis, I examined pollen
collected from bills of hermit hummingbirds occurring
in the lowlands and foothills of Manu National Park to
describe their dietary composition. I used these data
to test whether species that have overlapping ranges
partition their use of flowering-plant resources.
Since graduating, I finished my medical school program
at the University of Manitoba!
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Dr. Andrew Cook
(Graduated 2016) After finishing his Master's thesis on
co-evoluationary relationships between Mionectes
flycathers and Myrsidea
ectoparasitic chewing lice, Andrew completed his PhD
with Dr. Heather Proctor at the University of Alberta,
where studied cophylogenetic host-ectosymbiont
relationships.
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Dr.
Lucas Pavan
(Graduated December 2014) For his Honor's thesis, Lucas
studied patterns of territory space utilization in the
Shining Sunbeam (Aglaeactis
cupripennis), a species of hummingbird found in
high elevations of Manu National Park, Peru, which
largely feeds from the flowering tree Oreocalis grandiflora.
He described how individual hummingbirds use space and
different habitats within their territories, as it
relates to resource acquisition and mitigating
environmental stress. After graduating from UBC, Lucas
completed his PhD at Stanford University with Dr.
Rodolfo Dirzo, studying avian community responses to
mammal declines in African forests. He is now an
instructor in the School of Environment & Geomatics
at Selkirk College.
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Beth MacDonald, MSc
(Graduated May 2012, co-advised
w/ Dr.
Kathy Martin) For her
Master's thesis, Beth studied the incubation behaviors
of Horned Larks (Eremophila
alpestris) living in the Alpine environments of
British Columbia. She examined the effects of variable
thermal environments and extreme weather events on the
decisions made by incubating adults to leave the nest. |
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Dr. J. Patrick Kelley
A former post-doc in our lab, Patrick examined
organism-environment interactions across ecological
gradients to understand how behavior and physiology
shape natural selection and demography. These
investigations are built upon quantitative natural
history data and the quantification of climatic
variation and biotic pressures using a variety of
statistical approaches (nonlinear modeling, occupancy
models, spatial analysis). |
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Torin Heavyside, BSc
(Graduated 2014) For his project, Torin examined the
stress hormone, Corticosterone, in birds across
elevations in Manu National Park. He used Cort levels as
an indicator of environmental stress that individuals
experience, to ask whether levels change with the
proximity of individuals to the edge of their range. |
