Luther Lab at George Mason University
Our research explores behavioral ecology, tropical ecology, and conservation biology. We examine how species interact with their environments and how these interactions change with environmental alterations. Since the majority of species live in the tropics the majority of our work is in tropical ecosystems, but we also study diverse environments to improve our understanding of animal behavior, ecology, and effective conservation strategies.
Tropical Forest Ecosystems
LAB NEWS
2025
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New paper on bird song response error rates and traffic noise published
An experiment of how error rates shape animal communication and the influence of anthropogenic noise
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.251937
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Shawn Smith defended his dissertation!
Bernadette Rigley defended her dissertation!
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David selected as an Elective Member of the American Ornithological Society (AOS)
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David participated in the Amazon.IA workshop at the Instituto Mamiraua in Tefé
and Uakari Lodge
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Thalia Eigen, Tara Snedgen, and Ibrahim Kamara join the lab as new graduate students
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Aline is in Manaus with our partners from UFAM and INPA to begin year 2 of our
Amazon rainforest rainfall manipulation experiment IRRIGA
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Emilia Roberts successfully defended her MS on the effectiveness of microclimate refugia
for birds in the Amazon rainforest!
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2024
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IRRIGA begins! Year one of our rainfall manipulation experiment in the Amazon rainforest.
We are watering the rainforest in the dry season to study the impacts of extreme dry seasons
on animal diversity.
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Amazon remote camera and acoustic biodiversity monitoring network at the BDFFP
finally comes together. Click the links to find out more.
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Meadhbh Molloy successfully defended her PhD on gut microbiomes and translocation
reintroduction conservation projects!
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Bernadette gives a great talk to the Virginia Working Landscapes Group
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Several members of the Lab present at the American Ornithological Society Meeting in Colorado.
New research from the lab is published:
- Global Change Biology, on the potential impacts of future precipitation changes in the
Neotropics for birds and protected areas https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.17544
- Remote Sensing and the Environment, on the use of space borne lidar to predict
avian richness and functional diversity across
North America https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2024.114446
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Aidan Mccarthy joins the lab. Welcome Aidan!!
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Aline and Emilia continue field work in the Amazon. As the new Amazon
rainfall manipulation experiment gets underway.
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David gives a talk at UFAM the Federal University in Manaus, Amazonas, Brasil.
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Former lab members
Tovah, Jess, Sarah F continue to publish papers from their dissertations.
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2023
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Aline Medeiros joins the lab as a new PhD student. Welcome Aline!
Shawn Smith and Bernadette Rigley present their research at AOS in Toronto Canada.
Former Lab member Amy Johnson and current Phd student Bernadette Rigley are
featured in episode 5 at minute 30 on a new National Geographic TV show entitled
Extraordinary Birder with Christian Cooper which is available on Disney+!
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Congratulations Master Jillian Jorgenson on defending your MS thesis on the Andean
Tapir!
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Congratulations Dr. Sarah Weber on defending your dissertation on the social context
side of ReWilding!
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MS student Emilia Roberts begins her field research at the BDFFP on the
microclimate refugia hypothesis for Amazonian birds to escape the increased
heat and reduced humidity in the dry season.
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Bernadette Rigley begins another field season finding nests and tracking grassland birds
in Virginia!
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Congratulations Dr. Sarah Farinelli on defending your dissertation on detecting global
manatee populations!
Congratulations Dr. Jessica Roberts on defending your dissertation on behavioral
managment and reintroduction biology of birds!
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Congratulations Dr. Tovah Siegel on defending your dissertation on the effects of forest
fragmentation on mutualistic interactions in the Amazon rainforest!
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Congratulations Jess Roberts on publishing the first chapter of your dissertation!
Roberts J** and D Luther. 2023. An exploratory analysis of behavior-based and other management
techniques to improve avian conservation translocations. Biological Conservation.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2023.109941
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Belated congratulations to Cameron Rutt for his new position working at the American Bird
Conservancy on finding lost species as well as the first publication of your postdoc at GMU!!
Rutt C, P Stouffer, J Cooper, C Vargas, T Costa, M Cohn-Haft, D Luther. 2022. Low species turnover of
upland Amazonian birds in the absence of physical barriers. Diversity and Distributions. https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.13662
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Congratulations Dr. Charlie Coddington on defending your dissertation!
Also congratulations for 2 chapters already published!
Coddington C**, J Cooper, D Luther. 2023. Avian breeding activity declines after forest fragment isolation.
Conservation Biology. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.14063
Coddington C**, J Cooper, D Luther. 2022. Forest structure predicts species richness and functional
diversity in Amazonian mixed-species bird flock. Biotropica. Accepted Dec 2022.
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2022
New paper out on the long-term changes in avian biomass and functional diversity within disturbed
and undisturbed Amazonian rainforest is published in Royal Society Proceedings B, with a cover image of a royal flycatcher. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2022.1123
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Emilia Roberts joins lab as MS student interested in tropical avian conservation and ecology. Welcome Emilia!!
David Luther, Lynn Christensen (Vassar), and Nina Laney (USFS) were awarded an NSF grant to investigate Biodiversity responses to changing climate across the Americas: Synthesis of long-term ecological data. https://www.vassar.edu/news/lynn-christenson-co-pi-new-nsf-conference-grant
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David Luther, Kathleen Hunt, Scott Glaberman, and Greg Foster were awarded GMU College of Science SEED funds for an Investigation into the legacy and current chemical pollution as drivers of avian species declines in the Amazon.
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Charlie, Jess, Lara, and David from the Luther lab attended and presented at the American Ornithological Society annual meeting in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
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Undergraduate student Anna McElhinny is awarded an OSCAR URSP grant for field work in Bolivia to Investigate the effects of anthropogenic noise on vocal communication in Bolivian birds: The Great Kiskadee (Pitangus sulphuratus), Rufous Hornero (Furnarius rufus), and Thrush-like Wren (Campylorhynchus turdinus).
Undergraduate student Gwendolyne Fields is awarded an OSCAR URSP grant to conduct research in Namibia to Compare growth rates of Somaliland and Namibian Cheetah cubs.
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Eleanor King successfully defends her Masters thesis on forest restoration in Madagascar!!
Jon Clark published his MS thesis on the Maintenance of local adaption despite gene flow in a coastal songbird and his work was the focus of the cover photo of the journal Evolution.
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David Luther, Henry Pollock and Corey Tarwater organized and presented the symposia Neotropical forest avifauna responses to climate and land-use change at the American Ornithological Society meeting in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
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Lara Kazo published her MS chapter on The effects of forest fragmentation on body condition of understory birds at the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project in Amazonia in Biotropica.
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Charlie Coddington published his MS thesis on Microscopic analysis of the plumulaceous feather characteristics of Cathartiformes and Accipitriformes in North America in the Journal of Raptor Research.
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2021
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Bernadette Rigley joins the lab as a new PhD student. She will study the behavioral ecology and conservation of grassland birds in Virginia in collaboration with Amy Johnson and the Virginia Working Landscapes.
This summer several new papers were published from our lab:
David, along with Liz Derryberry from UTK, finished editing a special issue on urban ecology for the journal Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution and topped it off with a final editorial on Behavioral Adaptations to Life in the City.
Brian Griffith's paper on Dissimilarities among Amazonian mineral licks was just published in the journal Biotropica.
Our new paper on conservation actions for the most threatened species, Conservation actions benefit the most threatened species: A 13-year assessment of Alliance for Zero Extinction species, is now published.
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Derryberry and Luther team up again for research on the Spatiotemporal dynamics of singing in the city in the journal Integrative and Comparative Biology.
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Lauren Bradshaw and Danielle Armstrong join the Luther lab for the summer as high school researchers through the ASSIP program at Mason. They are researching the effects of climate change on functional diversity in the Amazon and the effects of forest fragmentation on breeding activity of birds in the Amazon Rainforest.
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Jess Roberts receives American Ornithological Society grant entitled, New Evidence-based Methods in Passerine Reintroduction Science.
Maggie Walker is awarded the Marion Lobstein Scholarship at George Mason University!!
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Maggie Walker and Jackie Batchelor successfully present their independent research projects at the College of Science Undergraduate Research Colloquium.
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Lara Kazo successfully defended her Masters Thesis!!
David is awarded both the GMU Stearn Center Teaching Excellence and GMU OSCAR Sustained Mentoring Excellence Awards!!
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Jess Roberts, Justin Cooper, and David Luther publish Global assessment of forest quality for threatened terrestrial vertebrate species in need of conservation translocation programs in PLOS One.
The George, GMU's daily newsletter, covers Hunter VanDoren's research on the conservation of Wood Turtles
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Shawn Smith has his paper on the long-term changes of plumage between urban and rural populations of White-crowned Sparrows accepted in the Journal of Urban Ecology
