Teaching Interest
BSC 103 Biological Sciences (PowerPoint Presentations)
(Grade
Book)
BSC 442/542 Behavioral Ecology
BSC 455/555 Animal Behavior
(PowerPoint Presentations)
Research Interests
My graduate students and I study the
behavior and ecology of migration. Nearly two-thirds of
all North American landbirds undertake migrations
between temperate breeding areas and tropical wintering
quarters. How well these birds respond to the energy
demand of long-distance flight and cope with problems
that arise during migration are key to their survival
and successful reproduction. Five interrelated questions
currently dominate our research:
- Age-dependent stopover ecology:
The high cost of migration falls largely on young,
inexperienced individuals. Differential costs should
be reflected in age-dependent differences in the
biology of migrants during passage.
- Habitat selection during
migration: Migrants encounter unfamiliar habitats
during migration. Exploratory behavior serves to
acquaint an animal with unfamiliar surroundings,
including the location of resources and predators.
We are particularly interested in the dynamics of
habitat use -- what kind of information do migrants
use to assess habitat and how do they acquire that
information?
- Transition between phase of the
annual cycle: How events associated with one phase
of an animal's annual cycle affect events of
subsequent phases, not to mention the actual
transition between phases, are critical questions in
the study of migratory animals.
- Behavioral response to energy
demand: If migrants are selected to minimize time
spent migrating, we expect the evolution of
compensatory mechanisms to meet nutritional demands
and to prevent delays in the migratory schedule.
- Landscape analysis of migration:
Dynamic spatial models that combine information on
migrant stopover ecology with GIS-based map
information simulate how patterns of habitat
availability (patch size, shape and distribution)
affect migratory bird populations.
Our research has recently taken on a
sense of urgency because populations of many migratory
songbirds are on the decline. These declines are linked
to deforestation on wintering grounds in Central and
South America and fragmentation of forested breeding
habitats. Our work is calling attention to a third
factor -- the availability of suitable habitat during
migration, where energy stores critical to a successful
migration can be safely deposited. The biology of
migrants during migration must figure in any analysis of
population change and in the formulation of sound
conservation policy.
Representative Publications
Moore, F. R., M. S. Woodrey, J. J. Buler, S. Woltmann,
T. R. Simons. 2005. Understanding the stopover of
migratory birds: A scale dependent approach. Bird
Conservation Implementation and Integration in the
Americas: Proceedings of the Third International
Partners in Flight Conference (C.J. Ralph and T.D. Rich,
eds.). U.S.D.A. Forest Service, Albany, CA.
Moore, F. R., R. J. Smith, and R. Sandberg. 2005.
Stopover ecology of intercontinental migrants: En route
problems and consequences for reproductive performance.
Pp. 251-261. In: Birds of Two Worlds – the ecology and
evolution of migration. R. Greenberg and P. Marra, eds.
John Hopkins Press, Baltimore, MD.
Smith, R. and F. R. Moore. 2005. Arrival Timing and
Seasonal Reproductive Performance in a Long-distance
Migratory Landbird. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology
57: 231-239.
Fuchs, T., A. Haney, T. J. Jechura, F. R. Moore, and V.
Bingman. 2006. Daytime naps in night-migrating
birds: behavioural adaptation to seasonal sleep
deprivation in the Swainson’s thrush, Catharus ustulatus. Animal
Behaviour 72: 951-958.
Owen,
J., F. Moore, N. Panella, E. Edwards, R. Bru, M. Hughes,
N. Komar. 2006. Migrating birds as dispersal vehicles of
West Nile virus, Ecohealth 3(2): 79-85
Buler,
J. J., F. R. Moore, and S. Woltmann. 2007. A multi-scale
examination of stopover habitat use by birds. Ecology
88: 1789-1802.
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