Sparrows of Mandarte

Life-histories and demography

My lab focuses on how the environment and individual influence life history trade-offs, aging and reproductive behaviors, links between behavior and fast/slow life histories, and the impacts of climate on breeding behaviors.

Studies of song sparrows on Mandarte Island were initiated by Frank Tompa (1960-3), restarted by Jamie N. M. Smith in 1975, and continued after 1991 by Peter Arcese. Wes Hochachka, Alice Cassidy, Lukas Keller, Jane Reid, Andy Davis, Mike Janssen, Mark Sloan, Ryan Germain, Corey Tarwater, Katherine Carbeck, Megan Duchense and many others have contributed to this long-term study of song sparrows and our lab is incredibly lucky to be able to work on this system. Long-term research has primarily focused on population dynamics in small populations. More recent work has focused on using the detailed social and genetic pedigree (1993 - present) to examine inbreeding and mating systems, relative effects of individual vs. habitat quality on fitness, and the impacts of fox sparrows on song sparrows.

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