Phoebes & Flamingos
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- Опубликовано: 27 мар 2025
- “How do Songbird Nest Predator Communities and Predation Rates Change Across an Urban Gradient?" - Finn Velisaris, a recent graduate of UC Davis with a degree in Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology.
Finn's project at UC Davis, part of “Project Phoebe,” studied predators of the Black Phoebe’s eggs and nestlings and how urbanization affects predator composition and predation rates. He also addressed the challenges faced by the Black Phoebe in urban environments.
Finn's academic career involved diverse research, including studies on extra-pair copulation in white-crowned sparrows, urbanization effects on Black Phoebes, and tracking migration with nocturnal flight calls. His current research explores changes in predation rates and songbird communities across urban gradients.
“The Evolution of the Flamingo’s Smile” - Christopher Torres, PhD, an Assistant Professor in the Dept. of Biological Sciences at the University of the Pacific.
Flamingos are iconic birds known for their vivid colors and unique feeding methods. Their specialized beaks make them an ideal subject for studying beak evolution, specialization risks, and ecological shifts. Despite their fascinating traits, flamingos have a mysterious evolutionary history marked by unknown origins, cryptic fossils, and repeated extinction threats. This talk by Chris will explore the current understanding of this history.
Christopher Torres is a bird paleontologist whose research focuses on questions about the evolution of the skull and brain, the evolution of bird ecology, and what influences extinction. His projects involve studying various groups of birds (like flamingos, ratites and relatives, rails, and early prehistoric birds) from various slices of time in Earth’s history.
