New paper out: Varying dataset resolution alters predictive accuracy of spatially explicit ensemble models for avian species distribution

I'm pleased to announce that the first paper from my postdoc with Eli Bridge has been published (open access!) in Ecology and Evolution.  We compared spatially explicit species distribution models to those without spatial averaging and found that accuracy varied by species and data resolution.  Code and data are available on datadryad.org.  I'd love to hear from anyone who tries out the code on their own studies, as it seems this area needs more work to determine better practices for modeling.

As a librarian here at OU now, I would like to highlight that the OU Libraries' Open Access Subvention Fund helped us publish this by covering the article processing charges (aka page charges).  If you're at OU, do check out the fund eligibility, and if you're not at OU, please check your library to see if they do the same.

New paper out: Noise source and individual physiology mediate effectiveness of bird songs adjusted to anthropogenic noise

I'm very excited to announce that another paper from my postdoctoral work in Canada came out last week in Scientific Reports.  It is available open access and I'm very proud of the experiments we did for it.  We looked at whether adjustments to noise in Savannah Sparrow songs were necessary and effective at two different types of oil well infrastructure.  It turns out they were, but the necessity of these adjusted songs varied with the physiological state of the birds.

New paper out: Noise from four types of extractive energy infrastructure affects song features of Savannah Sparrows

My post-doctoral work on bioacoustics of anthropogenic noise has resulted in another publication, this time in The Condor: Ornithological Applications.  Miya Warrington of St. George's University took the lead on this paper.  We discuss how four different types of energy extraction infrastructure affect whole songs and syllables of Savannah Sparrows.

New paper out: Ability to alter song in two grassland songbirds exposed to simulated anthropogenic noise is not related to pre-existing variability

Exciting news!  The first paper from my experimental work as a post-doc at the University of Manitoba has been published in Bioacoustics.  We compared how Baird's and Savannah sparrows alter their songs in the presence of simulated oil well drilling noise, and found that they both altered their songs in response to noise.  This was in spite of the fact that Savannah Sparrow has much more species-level variation in song relative to Baird's Sparrow.  Read all about it!

New paper: anthropogenic noise affects detectability in grassland bird surveys mainly via errors in distance estimates

My post-doc mentor, Dr. Nicola Koper, has recently published a new (open access) paper on the effects of ambient noise on detectability in grassland birds in Ecology and Evolution (I am a co-author on this paper) on whether bird survey results might be affected by anthropogenic noise.  The main message is that species are still detectable, but noise can affect observers' ability to estimate distances to unseen vocalizing birds.

Afternoon thunderstorm

An afternoon thunderstorm rolling in near Brooks, Newell County, Alberta.  19 June 2014.

More from the summer: prairie fog

Fog on the prairie leaves pretty dewdrops on the grass, but our boots were soaked almost instantly every day.  Near Brooks, Alberta, 27 July 2014.

A sunny, warm morning on the prairie

A sunny and actually warm morning on the prairie.  A lot of mornings I end up wearing several layers for the first hour or two out.  This morning was great for a cold southerner and there were lots of insects out.  Near Brooks, Alberta, 13 July 2014.

Ironically, it's cold and raining today.

Morning thunderstorm

A late morning thunderstorm on the prairie from a few weeks ago.  West of Brooks, Alberta, 28 June 2014.

Field work interlude

Field work has been quite busy lately, but I'm working on the next post in the Sokal and Rohlf stats/R series.

Have a prairie picture in the meantime!

A Savannah Sparrow on the Alberta prairie.