Home          Contact          Research          Teaching and Mentoring          Photography

Interested in assisting in these or other research projects?

I am interested in a variety of topics related to birds - phylogenetics, population genetics, morphology, behavior, and sexual selection among them.  My current research focuses on island adaptations and the ability/willingness to fly over large water bodies.  I am working towards a masters thesis in the Department of Zoology, University of Florida, advised by Dr. Dave Steadman, studying the birds of Trinidad and Tobago.  These two islands are land-bridge islands (as opposed to oceanic islands) - they were connected to the South American continent 11,000 and 14,000 years ago, respectively, and thus the species present are likely remnant populations rather than populations of colonists.  This provides a unique opportunity to tease apart island adaptations from traits important in the ability to colonize an island.  I have also integrated a genetic component to this project - I am interested in knowing which of my study species have diverged genetically as well as morphologically between the islands.  This has direct conservation implications, because species whose populations have diverged genetically are not likely to be dispersing between the islands.  Thus, the extirpation of one of these species from Tobago, for example, would not only represent a loss of a morphologically and genetically distinct group, but the species would not be re-established on Tobago from neighboring populations.  Stay tuned for results, which I hope will be coming soon.

I am conducting my molecular work in the lab of one of my very generous committee members, Dr. Rebecca Kimball.  

An outstanding zoology undergraduate, Erica Egan, helped me with the genetic work as part of her senior thesis.  She presented her senior thesis at the Zoology Undergraduate Research Symposium this April and graduated from the University of Florida with high honors.  I am very proud of her accomplishments!

Other research projects I am currently working on include analyzing data from the Florida Museum of Natural History bird collection.  We have found trends in the sizes of flight muscles in columbids (pigeons and doves) on Pacific islands.  The percentage of total body mass contributed by flight muscles in a variety of columbids is smaller on smaller, more remote islands than on larger islands close to continents.  We are currently increasing our samples of other groups of birds in other areas of the world to examine whether these trends are universal or limited to columbids in the Pacific.

I am also currently identifying bird bones from an archaeological site in Guatemala.  By integrating paleontology, archaeology, and modern surveys, we can develop an understanding of how humans have affected avian communities over time.  

Some of the species I am studying on Trinidad and Tobago include:

   Copper-rumped Hummingbird, Amazilia tobaci                         Barred Antshrike, Thamnophilus doliatus
                                                                                                                     




             Bananaquit, Coereba flaveola                                           Bare-eyed Thrush, Turdus nudigenis





     Rufous-breasted Hermit, Glaucis hirsuta



                    

All photos by Natalie Wright

 Questions or comments about this website?  Contact natrun@ufl.edu