Professional Information

Research Interests

I'm interested in population/community ecology, particularly structural aspects of community ecology involving factors that limit membership in communities. Basically, I want to know why everything isn't everywhere. Answers at all scales (historical, geologic, continental, landscape, individual, cellular) are of interest. Questions involving species interactions (e.g. good old competition!) are especially fun. Although my primary interest is birds, my interests are question driven (population/community ecology), and are not limited to just birds.

I'm currently doing data analysis on a long-term project on the Voorhis Ecological Reserve here on campus. In 1981, a wildfire burned part of the Reserve, and we (i.e. me and my graduate students) started looking at what birds utilize the burned area compared to a nearby unburned area. Unfortunately there are not data continuously from 1981 - some graduate students actually expect to graduate! There was another fire in 1989, which burned both our "burned" and "unburned" sites, and we have substantial data from 1989 through 1996, and a final set from 2000-2003. Field work on this project has ended. The basic idea is to watch the bird utilization of these two sites and see if anything interesting happens. There are limitations in the study, primarily the fact that there is only one "burned" and one "unburned" site. Therefore, we can't measure within "treatment" among site variation. This problem can't be "fixed" (the additional sites don't exist), but patterns of utilization through the 22 year period are still interesting.

Current Graduate Students

Jill Parsell is studying the breeding system and sex ratio of the Yellow-faced Grassquit ( Tiaris olivacea ) in the area of Monteverde, Costa Rica. Questions include: Is the breeding system colonial? Is the breeding system social monogamy, genetic monogamy, polygamy, or promiscuity? Is the sex ratio at birth 1:1, and how does this relate to the breeding system? Methodology involves capturing, banding, and taking blood samples from adult birds; behavioral observations of adults with respect to courtship/nesting; banding and taking blood samples from nestlings. Sex of nestlings and adults will be determined genetically; and DNA microsatellites will be used to determine paternity.

Minelia Hermsdorf is new to the program, and the project is to be determined.

Academic

EDUCATION:
B.S. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Zoology 1970
M.S. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Zoology 1972
Ph.D. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Zoology 1976

POSITIONS HELD:
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
1992-present: Professor of Biological Sciences
1990-1992: Acting Dean of the College of Science
1987-1990: Associate Dean for Academic Affairs - College of Science
1985-1987: Professor of Biological Sciences
1980-1985: Associate Professor of Biological Sciences
1976-1980: Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences

PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES:
Ecological Society of America
American Association for the Advancement of Science
American Ornithologists' Union
Cooper Ornithological Society
Wilson Ornithological Society
Southwestern Association of Naturalists