News
Spring/Summer 2024
We are continuing our work in high-density apple and sweet cherry orchards. We are conducting a netting experiment to assess the effects of netting on bird damage, other pests, and fruit quality. Netting is a more feasible pest management technique in high-density plantings, compared to conventional plantings, because of the lower height of the trees. Sidney Collino, Rachel Fredrickson, and Trevor Markwood are field technicians with this project. We also continue to monitor the use of orchard nest boxes by American Kestrels in northern Michigan orchards. Our past work shows that kestrels reduce activity of fruit-damaging birds and rodents.
Fall 2023
We have nearly completed our first field season investigating differences in pest activity and damage in high-density sweet cherry and apple plantings compared to conventional plantings, in Michigan's fruit-growing regions. Sidney Collino, Hugh Chomentowski, Simon Kok, Chloe Snyder and Karen Powers have all played major roles in getting the work done this past year. The project is funded by the Michigan Department of Agriculture and the Michigan Tree Fruit Commission.
Fall 2022
Olivia Utley successfully defended her Master's thesis, Raptor foraging ecology and ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes.
During spring semester 2022, Sarah Groendyk successfully completed her Master's project Stopover ecology in urban habitats and Melissa Brady completed her Ph.D. dissertation Birds and berries: the costs and benefits of birds in agricultural ecosystems. Congratulations!
Undergraduate AnnaLiese Singer competed her professorial assistant project Bird species distributions across seasons in rural, suburban, and urban greenspaces. AnnaLiese is currently serving as a Dean's Research Scholar, presenting her research at special events for MSU alumni.
Winter 2021
Please see a new video from the Wild Farm Alliance that features some of our work on American kestrels: (https://www.wildfarmalliance.org/american_kestrels_save_growers_money)
There is also an article from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology discussing some of our work in northern Michigan, as well as research from other parts of the world on the benefits birds provide for agricultural systems (https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/at-orchards-and-vineyards-birds-are-outperforming-pesticides/)
Summer 2021
We welcome Olivia Smith as a member of the first cohort of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior Postdoctoral Fellows. Olivia is also a National Institute of Food and Agriculture Postdoctoral Fellow. Olivia received her Ph.D. at Washington State University and did postdoctoral work at the University of Georgia. She is interested in food safety issues in agriculture and is studying the probability of zoonotic pathogen spillover in Michigan sweet cherry farms. Welcome Olivia!
Olivia Smith (researchgate.net)
Olivia M. Smith - Google Scholar
Summer 2020
Current graduate students Melissa Hannay, Olivia Utley, and Sarah Groendyk have been meeting their research and teaching challenges with great perseverance the last six months and my hats are off to them. We are weathering this storm together.
Sarah Groendyk is the recipient of the George J. Wallace and Martha C. Wallace Endowed Scholarship Award from the Integrative Biology Department.
Olivia Utley successfully passed her comprehensive exams this past year! Congratulations!
******************************************************************************************************************* I thought it was time for a brief update on the whereabouts and positions of our recent former lab members. We think of them fondly, out in the world, using their skills to advance understanding of, and protect, our ecosystems, and to mentor the next generation of biologists:
Melissa Hannay, while finishing her Ph.D., is a Project Specialist at Texas A&M Natural Resources Institute, San Antonio, Texas.
Steve Roels is a Senior Natural Resource Specialist for the City of Louisville, Colorado.
Megan Shave is a Conservation Agent and Planner for the City of Brockton, Massachusetts.
Sean Williams is a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Biology Dept. at the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Massachusetts.
Rachel Eaton is the Graduate Student Administrator for the BioSciences Dept. at Rice University, Houston, Texas.
Spring 2019
I'm excited to begin my work as Editor-in-Chief of The Condor: Ornithological Applications.
Steve Roels published the second chapter of his dissertation: Recovery of bird activity and species richness in an early-stage tropical forest restoration. Avian Conservation and Ecology 14(1):9 doi.org/10.5751/ACE-01330-140109
Melissa Brady published the first chapter of her dissertation: Bird Species and Abundances in Fruit Crops and Implications for Bird Management. Crop Protection 120:43-49. doi.org/10.1016/j.cropro.2019.02.015
Fall 2018
Steve Roels successfully defended his dissertation, "Recovery of insectivorous bird ecological function in tropical forest restorations". Congratulations!
Summer 2018
We were saddened about the passing of our colleague, Dr. Brian Maurer, who played an instrumental role in obtaining the funding for our current project on the roles of American kestrels in fruit-production regions. Meeting with Brian was always a mixed bag; he was unfailingly friendly and hospitable but, on the flip side, he would find every flaw in your proposal or paper or plan for analysis and back to the drawing board it was! I also laughingly remember Brian's advice about child-rearing..."divide and conquer" which, he mentioned, becomes much more difficult once the offspring outnumber the parents. We will miss Brian.
Spring 2018
Follow these links to recent National Science Foundation articles about our work enhancing agricultural landscapes for native predators of crop pests.
March 1, 2018...https://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=244549&org=NSF&from=news
May 15, 2018...https://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=245124
Winter 2017-18
Megan Shave, who defended her dissertation last April, will shortly begin work for the city of Brockton, MA as a Conservation Agent. Home sweet home for Megan!
Steve Roels' first chapter has been accepted for publication: Roels, S.M., J.L. Porter, and C.A. Lindell. In press. Tropical forest restoration strategy affects predation pressure by birds and arthropods on herbivorous insects. Restoration Ecology.
Our lab's "group project" from last year was recently published: Lindell, C.A., R.A. Eaton, P. H. Howard, S.M. Roels, and M.E. Shave. 2018. Enhancing agricultural landscapes to increase crop pest reduction by vertebrates. Agriculture, Ecosystems, and Environment 257:1-11.
Summer 2017
Current and recent lab members delivered several presentations at the American Ornithological Society/Society of Canadian Ornithologists meeting here at Michigan State University this summer. C. Lindell delivered a talk at the World Conference on Ecological Restoration Meeting in Foz do Iguassu, Brazil, in August. Iguassu Falls was breath-taking. Click link for titles of talks.
Lindell, C.A. and S.M. Roels. 2017. What we know and don’t know about the role of birds in Forest Restoration. World Conference on Ecological Restoration, August 27 – Sept. 1, 2017, Iguassu Falls, Brazil. Invited speaker for Symposium: Making the most of birds and mammals in restoration, Dr. Wesley Silva organizer.
Lindell, C.A., R.A. Eaton, S.M. Roels, and M.E. Shave. 2017. Enhancing Agricultural landscapes to increase crop pest reduction by birds. American Ornithological Society/Society of Canadian Ornithologists Joint Meeting, July 31-August 5, 2017, East Lansing, MI.
Williams, S. and C.A. Lindell. 2017. Context-specific vocalization serves as a mechanism of interspecific cohesion in Amazonian mixed-species flocks. American Ornithological Society/Society of Canadian Ornithologists Joint Meeting, July 31-August 5, 2017, East Lansing, MI.
Roels, S., J. Porter, and C. Lindell. 2017. Predation pressure for dummies: avian attacks on clay caterpillars across a tropical landscape. American Ornithological Society/Society of Canadian Ornithologists Joint Meeting, July 31-August 5, 2017, East Lansing, MI.
Shave, M., S. Shwiff, J. Elser, and C. Lindell. 2017. Nest boxes benefit a declining raptor and ecosystem services in a fruit-growing region. American Ornithological Society/Society of Canadian Ornithologists Joint Meeting, July 31-August 5, 2017, East Lansing, MI.
Brady, M. Eaton, R., Wieferich, S., Steensma, K., Leigh, D., Curtis, P., Henrichs, H., Boulanger, J., Lindell, C. 2017. Abundance of fruit-eating birds in agricultural land cover. American Ornithological Society/Society of Canadian Ornithologists Joint Meeting, July 31-August 5, 2017, East Lansing, MI.
Spring 2017
Megan Shave recently defended her Ph.D. dissertation EVALUATING THE CONSERVATION AND AGRICULTURAL APPLICATIONS OF ORCHARD NEST BOXES FOR A DECLINING RAPTOR.
Recently accepted papers:
William, S.M. and C.A. Lindell. In press. Nuclear species in Peruvian Amazonian mixed-species flocks are differentially attractive to transient species and to each other. Wilson Journal of Ornithology.
Shave, M.E. and C.A. Lindell. 2017. American Kestrels occupying nest boxes in Michigan cherry orchards show high reproductive performance and tolerance to video camera monitoring. Journal of Raptor Research 51(1):50-60.
Winter 2016-17
Rachael Eaton successfully defended her Ph.D. dissertation INFLUENCES OF DIET, SPATIAL SCALE, AND SOCIALITY ON AVIAN FORAGING BEHAVIOR AND HABITAT USE IN CULTIVATED SWEET CHERRY ORCHARDS AND THE RESULTING IMPLICATIONS FOR MANAGEMENT. Rachael is currently the Graduate Program Administrator of the Biosciences Dept. at Rice University.
Sean Williams successfully defended his Ph.D. dissertation BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY OF AMAZONIAN MIXED-SPECIES FLOCKS. Sean is currently working for the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife.
Summer and Fall 2016
Recently accepted articles:
Shave, M.E. and C.A. Lindell. American Kestrels occupying nest boxes in Michigan cherry orchards show high reproductive performance and tolerance to video camera monitoring. Journal of Raptor Research.
Lazos, E., J. Zinda, A. Bennett-Curry, P. Balvanera, G. Bloomfield, C. Lindell and C. Negra. 2016. Stakeholders and tropical reforestation: challenges, trade-offs, and strategies in dynamic environments. Biotropica 48:xxx-xxx
Williams, S. M. 2016. Observations on the mating behavior of the eastern lowland olingo
Bassaricyon alleni (Carnivora: Procyonidae) in the Peruvian Amazon. Zoologia 33:e20160027
Williams, S. M. 2016. First description of the nest of the Stipple-throated Antwren
(Epinecrophylla haematonota) in Peru. Ornitología Neotropical 27:97-100.
Summer 2016 saw Sean Williams pursuing his work on understory mixed-species flocks on the Madre de Dios River, Peru, while Steve Roels ran field experiments on trophic interactions at the Agua Salud restoration site in Panama. Meanwhile, back in the U.S., American Kestrels, Eastern Bluebirds, and European Starlings used many of the nest boxes we (Melissa Brady, Megan Shave, Catherine Lindell) installed in blueberry fields in Van Buren and Allegan Counties.
Spring 2016
April 2016
Steve Roels is the recipient of the George J. Wallace and Martha C. Wallace Endowed Scholarship Award from the Integrative Biology Department.
Sean Williams is a recipient of the John R. Shaver Graduate Student Award from the Integrative Biology Department.
Rachael Eaton is a recipient of a College of Natural Science Dissertation Completion Fellowship.
American kestrels have begun nesting in nest boxes we installed in Van Buren County, Michigan during the fall/winter of 2015-2016.
