Research Interests


I am generally interested in habitat and population research that assists resource agencies and conservation organizations to understand factors that limit wildlife populations. 

Current Projects

Restoration of Piping Plovers to Lake Ontario

• Funding: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, NY Department of Environmental Conservation
• Collaborators: Audubon New York, Onondaga Audubon Society, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, NY Department of Environmental Conservation, New York Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation
• Personnel: Alison Kocek, PhD Candidate; Michelle Stantial, PhD Candidate

---

Avian demographic response to salt marsh restoration, with emphasis on salt marsh breeding sparrows in coastal New York state, and experimental habitat restoration for tidal marsh birds

• Funding: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, NY Department of Environmental Conservation, Gateway National Recreation Area
• Collaborators: NYC Parks, NYC Audubon, Salt Marsh Habitat and Avian Research Program, Biodiversity Research Institute
• Personnel: Alison Kocek, PhD Candidate; Alex Cook, MS student

---

Photo Credit: Steve Maslowski

Monitoring responses of avian communities and focal bird species to forest management in Pennsylvania

• Funding: National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
• Collaborators: Dr. Jeffery  Larkin (Indiana University of Pennsylvania)
• Personnel: Cameron Fiss, PhD Student

---

Impacts of roadways and vehicle collisions to breeding snowy plovers and other wildlife at Gulf Islands National Seashore, Florida

• Funding: National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Gulf Environmental Benefit Fund, National Park Service (Gulf Islands National Seashore), Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
• Collaborators: Florida Parks Service, Audubon Florida, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
• Personnel: Maureen Durkin,  PhD Candidate

---

Factors limiting imperiled New England cottontail rabbit populations in New York State, and Scientific Management of New England cottontails

• Funding: New York Department of Environmental Conservation, US Department of Agriculture
• Collaborators: Whipps Lab at SUNY ESF, Ryan Lab at University of Florida, New York Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation, Wildlife Conservation Society, Kovach Lab at University of New Hampshire
• Personnel: Amanda Cheeseman, post-doc; Drew Eline, MS student

---

Photo credit: Conserve Wildlife NJ

Factors limiting reproductive success of piping plovers in New Jersey

• Funding: National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, US Fish and Wildlife Service New Jersey Field Office
• Collaborators: New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey, Atlantic Coast Piping Plover Recovery Program
• ​Personnel: Michelle Stantial, PhD Candidate

---

Decision support population modeling for piping plover recovery

• Funding: Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge
• Collaborators: Atlantic Coast Piping Plover Recovery Program
• ​Personnel: Abigail Darrah, Post-doc; Maureen Durkin,  PhD Candidate; Michelle Stantial, PhD Candidate

---

Photo credit: Cornell University

American black duck and mallard interactions and habitat separation during winter in the Finger Lakes region of central NY 

• Funding: New York Department of Environmental Conservation, US Fish and Wildlife Service/American Black Duck Joint Venture
• Collaborators: Dr. Michael Schummer (SUNY Oswego)
• Personnel: Justin Droke and Adam Bleau, MS Students

Past Projects

• Impacts of anthropogenic disturbance on snowy plover behavior, reproductive success, and habitat selection in the Florida Panhandle (Conservian Inc., USFWS)
• Piping plover movements, flight heights, and avoidance of obstructions during the breeding season: implications for risk of collision with turbines and other human structures (USFWS, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection) 
• Methods for estimating ring-necked pheasant populations in western New York (NY DEC)
• Mercury contamination in songbirds on Onondaga Lake, Syracuse, NY (USFWS)
• Influence of protected lands on changes in forest breeding bird distributions in NY and PA
• ​Effect of human disturbance on roseate tern behavior and habitat use on Cape Cod, MA (NPS)