主要研究 今天

On the edge of Great Bay at dawn, associate professor of natural resources and the environment 艾德丽安Kovach (右), 硕士生塔利亚·库拉斯(左), and undergraduate researcher Margaret Yates ’23 walk carefully through a tidal marsh in Stratham, N.H. 去研究生活在那里的小鸟.

“We are researching tidal marsh sparrows – birds that nest in tidal salt marshes – which are threatened by sea-level rise,科瓦奇说。. 2022年夏天，她和她 研究小组 visited marshes throughout New Hampshire to determine if tidal marsh sparrows are present; their findings will help inform efforts to prioritize salt marshes for restoration. They also monitored nests and banded individual birds on select marshes in New Hampshire and southern Maine, tracking the birds’ nesting success and long-term survival and collecting genetic data and behavioral observations such as mating behavior, 羽毛特征和饮食. “最终,科瓦奇说。, “we are interested in understanding how these sparrows are adapted to living in the harsh environment of the salt marsh.”