My research focuses on
the
ecology and evolution of communication and mating systems of
wild animals, especially birds. My students and I study the interaction
between avian communication and reproductive strategies, and
the influence of natural selection and sexual selection on vocal
behaviour and mating
behaviour. I am a field biologist; my
students and I combine our laboratory-based research with an intensive
field-based approach to study the behavioural ecology of animals in
their natural environment. Together with a variety of
colaborators, I maintain ongoing
studies of chickadees and warblers in Ontario; owls and woodpeckers in
the United States; wrens, manakins, and antbirds in Costa Rica, and a
critically-endangered wren in Colombia.
Field-based and Lab-based
Research
In the field, I use a variety
of innovative techniques to study avian mating systems and
communication systems. I use interactive playback and multi-channel
playback to investigate animal communication strategies and the
evolution of animal signals. I use long-term remote recordings as a
passive strategy for monitoring the behaviour and ecology of rare and
endangered birds. I have helped pioneer the development of an Acoustic
Location System (ALS) capable of triangulating the position of
free-living
animals based on the sounds they produce. Presently, I am using ALS
technology to study the ecology of vocal duetting behaviour in tropical
birds in Costa Rica and the evolution of communication networks in
temperate birds in Canada.
On campus at the University of Windsor, I run
Canada's largest
and most
comprehensive laboratory devoted to the study of animal sounds. My
laboratory includes a digital library of over 40 terrabytes of
recordings of animal sounds from North, Central, and South America. I
have seven sound analysis stations running state-of-the-art sound
analysis software that my students and I use to analyze our field
recordings. I collaborate with other professors in the Department of
Biological Sciences to conduct studies of plumage colour and genetic
mating systems.
Research sites
At Queen’s University
Biological Station in Ontario, Canada I study the communication and
mating behaviour of territorial songbirds. Although the ecology of many
North America birds is generally well understood, my research
demonstrates that alternative frameworks may be more suitable for
modeling avian communication behaviour and reproductive choices. In
particular, I have shown that
songbird populations may be thought of as networks of communicating
individuals and that females make reproductive decisions based on
males’ network-based behaviour.
At Santa Rosa National Park in the Area
de Conservacion Guanacaste, Costa Rica, I study the mating system and
communication system of
resident tropical birds. The ecology of resident tropical birds is
poorly understood, especially with respect to their vocal behaviour and
mating systems. In 2002, I began research on the
Thryothorus
wrens in the Guanacaste Conservation Area in northwest Costa Rica. To
date, the project has involved colour banding individuals, monitoring
territoriality and reproductive behaviour, and describing the
vocalizations of species that have never been studied previously. My
research has revealed new insight into the similarities and differences
of vocal behaviour in temperate versus tropical birds, and the ecology
and evolution of female song and vocal duetting.
