Welcome to the warbler lab
In our lab we study speciation, species diversity, and visual communication in birds, primarily in the Himalaya. For individual research projects, please click on the links below.
The focus of my research is on (1) climate change effects on birds in the western Himalaya, (2) drivers of species diversity across the Himalaya, (3) evolution of colors and color vision in birds.
I’m primarily focused on how we can explain biodiversity patterns through deep time and regional scales. My research uses phylogenetic comparative methods to explore diversification rates, phylogenetic tree structure across the Tree of Life, and diversity accumulation along elevational gradients. I am also interested in the interplay between evolutionary and ecological processes in a biogeographic context. In addition, I am involved in determining primates’ distributions and conservation threats with special emphasis in my native Colombia.
Kristina Fialko
Post-doctoral Fellow
My research focuses on how animals use a combination of static color signals and dynamic display behaviors in visual communication. I use high speed video to study the territorial displays of Old World warblers in the Western Himalaya. Using a field-based, comparative approach, I am interested in understanding how variation in a species’ signaling environment affects the perception and evolution of visual displays.
I am broadly interested in processes involved in the origin and maintenance of biodiversity, such as speciation and hybridization. I am also keen on understanding how communication signals (e.g., plumage patches and songs) evolve and what is their role in the speciation process. In the coming years, I will focus on studying the origin of isolating mechanisms during speciation, using genomic approaches.
Tatjana Washington is a climate change-focused ecologist whose mission is to understand how climate change affects wildlife’s physiological and behavioral stress responses and Environmental Justice policy. She is passionate about working with local communities to increase representation and attendance in nature-based activities. Growing up surrounded by farmland and longleaf pine forests in South Carolina, she always had a great appreciation of the beauty nature has to offer. She completed an M.S in Environmental Conservation at the University of Massachusetts and a B.S in Biology with a minor in Environmental and Sustainability studies at The College of Charleston in South Carolina. She lives for thrill-packed outdoor adventures, insightful traveling, sports talk, and community service activities.
I am fascinated by the link between climate and ecology over shallow and deep time. I am pursuing this interest by studying how birds navigate life in tropical climates through two lenses: variation in ecological traits within and between species across elevation in the Ecuadorian Andes, and the ebb and flow of bird migration across the dynamic landscape of Colombia. While supervised by John Bates at the Field Museum, I spend a lot of time in the Price lab. Through rigorous field, lab, and computational work, I seek to answer ecological and evolutionary questions with applications in conservation. My passion for birds and natural history is complemented by a love of dim sum, tacos, and expanding the flute’s musical niche.
Abhimanyu Lele
Abhimanyu is interested in investigating the links between environmental variation, local adaptation, and species ecology. For his PhD dissertation, he is investigating the effects of habitat fragmentation and elevational habitat change on adaptation and gene flow, incorporating fieldwork in western Ecuador, molecular work, and computational techniques. Abhimanyu is passionate about building inclusive communities within academia, and about incorporating pedagogical theory into scientific education. He is primarily supervised by John Bates at the field museum but hangs out with us a lot.