Welcome to Dr. Dugger’s research lab web site
I am an avian ecologist with interests in behavioral ecology, species-habitat relationships, avian demographics, and energetics. I also have interests in wetland management and restoration. I work collaboratively with my students and colleagues on a diverse array of research in Oregon and elsewhere. Our work is broadly centered on the ecology, conservation and management of waterbirds and their wetland habitats.
News
September 2013 – It’s been a busy summer. Highlights include Both Chris and Sara defending their MS theses. Sara has already transitioned into her new job as US Conservation Planning Coordinator for the Pacific Coast Joint Venture while Chris is staying in Corvallis to pursue his PhD, also working on Hawaiian Ducks. Blake had a manuscript accepted for publication in Condor and got another manuscript submitted while Lance had his manuscript in Wetlands come out in press. I should be following their lead!
May 2013 – Congratulations to my former PhD student Anne Mini, who recently accepted the position as Science Coordinator for the Lower Mississippi Joint Venture. She leaves next month; I’m going to miss her.
April 2013 – Winter term was productive. In January, most of us attended the Ecology and Conservation of North American Waterfowl meeting in Memphis, TN. The highlight of the conference was having two of my students win awards. Anne Mini won best PhD poster and Graham Evans-Peters took third place in the best master’s student competition. The awards included cash and a lovely carved plaque, shown below in the picture with Anne. My students and I thank Drs. Rick Kaminski and Brian Davis for organizing an outstanding meeting.The memphis conference also gave me a chance to hang out with former students including Lisa Webb and Jamie Fedderson. Lisa has since gone on to fame as the Assistant Unit Leader for the Missouri Fish and Wildlife Coop Unit at Mizzou, while Jamie, my first graduate student, is a waterfowl biologist for the state of Florida. In a “it’s a small world” moment, we had the opportunity to talk about work in Florida (mottled ducks) and Hawaii (Hawaiian ducks) centered on the same issue with shared collaborators. Lot of fun.
January 2013 – I’d like to welcome two new lab members, Erin Harrington and Kevin Buffington. Erin is pursuing a MS and will be asking questions about the expansion of Cackling Geese into urban habitats in Oregon while Kevin is pursuing a PhD working on issues related to climate change, sea level rise, estuarine habitat and migratory birds. Look for their project descriptions in the “ongoing research” folder in the coming weeks.
Chris is back in Hawaii for the first year of his PhD work. He’s got 65 Hawaiian Ducks marked with VHF radio transmitters and another three with PTTs. They are keeping him busy, but early returns on his investment include another movement between Kauai and Niihau and movements around the island.
Anne, Sara, Erin, Graham (lab member emeritus) and I are working on talks and posters for the upcoming Ecology and Conservation of North American Waterfowl Conference in Memphis.
August 2012 – I’ve had a busy eight months, including a sabbatical that started in January and ends later this month. Among other things, I was able to spend five weeks on Kauai working with refuge biologist Kim Uyehara to further our project on Hawaiian Duck, and then get away to attend the IVth International Wildlilfe Management Congress in Durban, South Africa. That trip included some time in Kruger National Park, which was truly amazing. While I was away, my lab group kept their site on the prize and continued working towards graduation and manuscript submission. Highlights include Anne completing an all but final draft of her dissertation – she will defend in October, and Gary submitting several manuscripts to the proceedings of the recently held International Crane Symposium. Anne’s work has been well received by flyway biologists and she will continue with me for another year as a post-doc conducting follow up analyses.
In other, less scientific news, Graham Peters and Sara Paroulek were married last month. That make the second time two students from my lab have married. I have no idea what that means, but I wish them all the best!
November 2012 – Winter weather patterns have settled over western Oregon early this year. Chris and managed to deal with that by spending time last month in Hawaii at the Hawaiian Waterbirds Conference. I had an opportunity to deliver a keynote talk about avian conservation planning and Chris presented data on movements of his transmittered Hawaiian Ducks. Chris then had a chance to spend a couple of weeks on Midway Island working with Dr. Michelle Reynolds to capture and band Laysan Ducks. Lucky bastard! I have been informed however that I am number 25 on Michelle’s list of folks who wish to visit Midway. So, at the current rate, I’ll get to go sometime around my 100th birthday.
Everyone’s summer activities are paying dividends. This past week Graham got confirmation that his paper in Wetlands has been accepted and Anne learned that her accepted paper in Wildfowl (related to her MS work) will include the cover photo for the journal! Congratulations to everyone. I’m hopeful the lousy weather around here will motivate us to get a few other things finished. Over the next four to six weeks, Gary and I are supposed to finish off a manuscript on sandhill crane abundance and distribution in California and both Lance and Blake should have manuscripts from their MS theses submitted for publication.
