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Follow me on twitter! @BirdDoc_Merrill
21-September-2018
Article on early-life stress resulting in tighter within and among-trait covariance in zebra finches out in early view in American Naturalist. https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/699839
14-June-2018
Nice coverage of our new paper linking avian malaria infection with condition in spring-migrating Lesser Scaup:
blogs.illinois.edu/view/7447/661258
8-May-2018
New book on Avian Brood Parasitism is out! My first contributed book chapter.
19-Feb-2018
Emilie's first chapter is out in early-view in Ecology and Evolution! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.3911/full
9-Feb-2018
Piece on unique preening behavior in green herons is out in Ecology in their new natural history section, The Scientific Naturalist. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ecy.2040/abstract
5-Aug-2017
Back from the inaugural American Ornithological Society conference in East Lansing Michigan. Gave a talk and watched Emilie do an excellent job with her first conference talk! All around a great conference!
1-Aug-2017
New JEZ:A paper documenting no immunological programming effects of exposure to CORT during development in zebra finches available online! http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jez.2086/pdf
20-Jun-2017
Great coverage of our functional ecology paper! Zebra finch study finds mixed impact of early life stress
19-Jun-2017
Check out my latest "Behind the Scenes" piece: Bird gets worm, makes history
This was a great opportunity to communicate natural history to the general public.
25-May-2017
Our manuscript on how early life stress may force trade-offs between sexual signals has been accepted in Functional Ecology!
23-May-2017
New press release out for our recent paper on fine-scale nest preference of Brown-headed Cowbirds!
https://news.illinois.edu/blog/view/6367/504077
20-May-2017
Our robins hatched on Monday! The four nestlings now have pin feathers and open eyes.
1-May-2017
My newest undergraduate mentee, Krti Tallam, was just awarded the prestigious Udall Undergraduate Scholarship! Congratulations Krti! You can read more about the award and Krti's accomplishments here:
http://nres.illinois.edu/news/meet-krti-tallam-self-starter-motivated-passionate-about-environment-udall-undergraduate
28-April-2017
Just gave a talk at the Biology Department at Arkansas State University, Jonesboro. I enjoyed meeting excellent faculty and grad students, and I especially enjoyed the bird-watching and Loggerhead Shrike trapping. Thanks to Alix Matthews and Than Boves for the invite and for being such great hosts!
20-April-2017
Our Oecologia paper on brown-headed cowbird parasitism rates differing among and within host species is now available online! https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00442-017-3870-z
11-April-2017
Our neighborhood American Robins are back to nesting on our balcony. The nest is finally constructed and eggs should be coming soon. It will be interesting to see how the early onset of this year's breeding season affects the health and survival of her offspring. Here's a video of the female robin shaping the cup (keep an eye out for pictures of the nestlings!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=RJU_9IDJEGg
10-April-2017
Volume I of our egg resource dataset was just accepted for publication in Oecologia. Check out the new study when it comes out! "Rates of parasitism, but not allocation of egg resources, vary among and within hosts of a generalist avian brood parasite."
6-April-2017
Gave a talk at the Champaign County Audubon Society: "Global insights from local birds: Research findings and natural history observations from our backyards." Thoroughly enjoyed sharing our science and my nature photography with the local birders!
31-Mar-2017
Kaity Ripple just had her first committee meeting where we discussed her plans to study the effects of invasive plant species on shrubland bird communities and the health of three focal species. Her field season is right around the corner- here's to a smooth and productive season!
30-Mar-2017
Emilie Ospina just successfully defended her Master's Thesis "Incubation Temperature Impacts Growth, Physiology, and Survival in Nestlings of an Open-Cup Nesting Passerine". Congratulations Emilie!!!
19-Mar-2017
Undergraduate Krti Tallam presented her first scientific poster at the Midwest Ecology and Evolution Conference. "From the Invisible to the Visible: Patterns of Parasitism in Illinois Birds" by Krti Tallam, Tara Stewart, Loren Merrill & T.J. Benson. Go Krti!!!
21-September-2018
Article on early-life stress resulting in tighter within and among-trait covariance in zebra finches out in early view in American Naturalist. https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/699839
14-June-2018
Nice coverage of our new paper linking avian malaria infection with condition in spring-migrating Lesser Scaup:
blogs.illinois.edu/view/7447/661258
8-May-2018
New book on Avian Brood Parasitism is out! My first contributed book chapter.
19-Feb-2018
Emilie's first chapter is out in early-view in Ecology and Evolution! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.3911/full
9-Feb-2018
Piece on unique preening behavior in green herons is out in Ecology in their new natural history section, The Scientific Naturalist. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ecy.2040/abstract
5-Aug-2017
Back from the inaugural American Ornithological Society conference in East Lansing Michigan. Gave a talk and watched Emilie do an excellent job with her first conference talk! All around a great conference!
1-Aug-2017
New JEZ:A paper documenting no immunological programming effects of exposure to CORT during development in zebra finches available online! http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jez.2086/pdf
20-Jun-2017
Great coverage of our functional ecology paper! Zebra finch study finds mixed impact of early life stress
19-Jun-2017
Check out my latest "Behind the Scenes" piece: Bird gets worm, makes history
This was a great opportunity to communicate natural history to the general public.
25-May-2017
Our manuscript on how early life stress may force trade-offs between sexual signals has been accepted in Functional Ecology!
23-May-2017
New press release out for our recent paper on fine-scale nest preference of Brown-headed Cowbirds!
https://news.illinois.edu/blog/view/6367/504077
20-May-2017
Our robins hatched on Monday! The four nestlings now have pin feathers and open eyes.
1-May-2017
My newest undergraduate mentee, Krti Tallam, was just awarded the prestigious Udall Undergraduate Scholarship! Congratulations Krti! You can read more about the award and Krti's accomplishments here:
http://nres.illinois.edu/news/meet-krti-tallam-self-starter-motivated-passionate-about-environment-udall-undergraduate
28-April-2017
Just gave a talk at the Biology Department at Arkansas State University, Jonesboro. I enjoyed meeting excellent faculty and grad students, and I especially enjoyed the bird-watching and Loggerhead Shrike trapping. Thanks to Alix Matthews and Than Boves for the invite and for being such great hosts!
20-April-2017
Our Oecologia paper on brown-headed cowbird parasitism rates differing among and within host species is now available online! https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00442-017-3870-z
11-April-2017
Our neighborhood American Robins are back to nesting on our balcony. The nest is finally constructed and eggs should be coming soon. It will be interesting to see how the early onset of this year's breeding season affects the health and survival of her offspring. Here's a video of the female robin shaping the cup (keep an eye out for pictures of the nestlings!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=RJU_9IDJEGg
10-April-2017
Volume I of our egg resource dataset was just accepted for publication in Oecologia. Check out the new study when it comes out! "Rates of parasitism, but not allocation of egg resources, vary among and within hosts of a generalist avian brood parasite."
6-April-2017
Gave a talk at the Champaign County Audubon Society: "Global insights from local birds: Research findings and natural history observations from our backyards." Thoroughly enjoyed sharing our science and my nature photography with the local birders!
31-Mar-2017
Kaity Ripple just had her first committee meeting where we discussed her plans to study the effects of invasive plant species on shrubland bird communities and the health of three focal species. Her field season is right around the corner- here's to a smooth and productive season!
30-Mar-2017
Emilie Ospina just successfully defended her Master's Thesis "Incubation Temperature Impacts Growth, Physiology, and Survival in Nestlings of an Open-Cup Nesting Passerine". Congratulations Emilie!!!
19-Mar-2017
Undergraduate Krti Tallam presented her first scientific poster at the Midwest Ecology and Evolution Conference. "From the Invisible to the Visible: Patterns of Parasitism in Illinois Birds" by Krti Tallam, Tara Stewart, Loren Merrill & T.J. Benson. Go Krti!!!
