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Janis Dickinson
Associate Professor 102A Fernow Hall Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14853 Ph: 607-254-2194 Fx: 607-254-2111 e.mail: jld84@cornell.edu website |
Ph.D - Cornell University - 1987
Janis Dickinson is a behavioral ecologist who has used western bluebirds as a model system
for testing key hypotheses regarding the evolution of mating systems, sex ratio, dispersal
behavior, cooperative breeding, migration, and life history traits. Trained as an entomologist,
she has also studied insect mating systems. Her long-term study of color-banded western
bluebirds is currently directed at understanding bird-mistletoe interactions and the potential
impacts of vineyardization of the oak savanna habitats of central California. As Director
of Citizen Science at Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, she is developing research models
that involve a blend of citizen research participation over a broad spatial scale with
more focused studies at a selection of sites to address impacts of anthropogenic changes
on biodiversity within a rich social and scientific context.
Research
Her current research involves 1) the role of mistletoe wealth in causing sons to delay
dispersal and extend their stay in their natal family group, 2) the importance of parental
nepotism to delayed dispersal, 3) patterns of inheritance of wealth and their impacts
on avian social behavior, 4) landscape impacts on demography and dispersal patterns,
and 5) vineyardization effects on population demography.
Extension
Janis directs the citizen science program at Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology (CLO)
and her main office is located at the Johnson Center on Sapsucker Woods Road.
Citizen science is a team effort involving CLO’s Directors of Conservation, Bird
Population Studies, Assessment and Evaluation, and Education in a collaborative
venture to engage regular people in exploratory research and monitoring at a continental
scale. Citizen science at the lab has provided the platform for studying the spread of
mycoplasmal conjunctivitis in house finches, winter irruption patterns in boreal birds,
impacts of acid rain on calcium uptake in and population declines in thrushes,
biodiversity impacts of forest fragmentation, and geographic variation in onset
of breeding and incubation patterns. Long term citizen science projects include
Project FeederWatch, The Birdhouse Network, Urban Birds, The House Finch Disease
Survey, The Great Backyard Bird Count, Birds in Forested Landscapes, the warbler
atlas projects, eBird and its Mexican counterpart, AverAves, and our newest effort,
Project NestWatch, which expands The Birdhouse Network’s approach to include open
nesting birds species. Underlying all of our projects is the belief that
demographic and ecological patterns are best understood with long-term
studies over a broad spatial scale and with close attention to the human
components of scientific literacy and conservation ethics. We are engaged
in active collaborations with Bird Studies Canada, The Audubon Society,
Smithsonian Environmental Research Center and other scientific and conservation organizations.
Selected Publications
B.S. - Binghamton University - 1981