Phone: 864 656-3584
FAX: 864 656-0435
Email: sagth@clemson.edu

An active area of research involves laboratory and field studies of bird migration, orientation and navigation. Several techniques have been used in field studies of the flight behavior of migrating birds: direct visual; electro-optics (closed circuit television with image intensification); small, marine fixed-beam and surveillance radars in a mobile laboratory; and large, powerful surveillance radars operated by the National Weather Service and the Federal Aviation Administration. These studies are helping to detail how, when, and where birds migrate, and the findings have served as a basis for experimental work on the migratory behavior of caged birds in the laboratory (e.g., the influence of magnetic factors on the migratory orientation of birds, the importance of photic cues in migratory orientation, and the physiological basis of migratory restlessness). The behavioral dominance interactions of animals can have profound ecological effects in terms of the distribution and abundance of individuals at spatial scales ranging from microhabitat differences (sexual differences in foraging location within a tree) to geographical differences (segregation of sexes during the non-breeding season). Laboratory and field studies are under way to see if behavioral dominance functions as a proximal mechanism in the differential dispersal of sexes, in partial migration, and in habitat selection. These investigations could lead to a better understanding of how ecological communities are assembled and disassembled in response to short- and long-term environmental changes.

 

Gauthreaux, Sidney A., Jr., and John W. Livingston.  (In press).  Monitoring bird migration with a fixed-beam radar and a thermal imaging camera.  Journal of Field Ornithology.

Gauthreaux, Sidney A., Jr., Carroll G. Belser, and Christopher M. Welch.  2006.  Atmospheric trajectories and spring bird migration across the Gulf of Mexico.  Journal of Ornithology: 147:317-325.

Gauthreaux, Sidney A., Jr., and Carroll G. Belser.  2006.  Effects of artificial night lighting on migratory birds.  In: Rich, C. and Longcore, T. (Eds.) Ecological Consequences of Artificial Night Lighting. Pp. 67- 93. Island Press, Washington.  

Gauthreaux, Sidney A., Jr., and Carroll G. Belser.  (2005).  Radar ornithology and the conservation of migratory birds.  Pp.871-875.   In:  C. John Ralph and Terrell D. Rich, editors. 2005. Bird Conservation Implementation and Integration in the Americas: Proceedings of the Third International Partners in Flight Conference. 2002 March 20-24;Asilomar, California; Volume 2. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-191. Albany, CA: Pacific Southwest Research Station, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture; 643 p.

Gauthreaux, Sidney A., Jr., Carroll G. Belser, and Christopher M. Welch. (In press). 2006. Atmospheric trajectories and spring bird migration across the Gulf of Mexico. Journal of Ornithology.

Gauthreaux, Sidney A., Jr., and Carroll G. Belser. 2006. Effects of artificial night lighting on migratory birds. In: Rich, C. and Longcore, T. (Eds.) Ecological Consequences of Artificial Night Lighting. Pp. 67- 93. Island Press, Washington.

Gauthreaux, Sidney A., Jr., Jenny E. Michi, and Carroll G. Belser. 2005. The temporal and spatial structure of the atmosphere and the evolution of bird migration. In: Greenberg, Russell and Peter P. Marra (Eds.) Birds of Two Worlds: The Ecology and Evolution of Migration. Pp. 182-192. John Hopkins University Press, John Wiley & Sons Ltd., West Sussex.

Simons, Theodore R., Frank R. Moore, and Gauthreaux, Sidney A., Jr. 2004. Mist netting trans-Gulf migrants at coastal stopover sites: The influence of spatial and temporal variability on capture data. In: Ralph, C. John and Erica H. Dunn (Eds.) Monitoring bird populations using mist nests, Studies in Avian Biology No. 29:135-143.

Farnsworth, Andrew, Sidney A. Gauthreaux, Jr., and Donald E. Van Blaricom. 2004. A comparison of nocturnal call counts of migrating birds and reflectivity measurements on Doppler radar. Journal of Avian Biology 35:365-369.

Gauthreaux, Sidney A., Jr., and Carroll G. Belser. 2003. Bird movements on Doppler
weather surveillance radar. Birding 35 (6):616-628.

Gauthreaux, Sidney A., Jr., Carroll G. Belser, and Donald E. Van Blaricom. 2003. Using a network of WSR88-D weather surveillance radars to define patterns of bird migration at large spatial scales. In: Berthold, P., E. Gwinner, and E. Sonnenschein (eds.) Avian Migration. Pp. 335-346. Springer-Verlag, Germany.

Gauthreaux, Sidney A., Jr., and Carroll G. Belser. 2003. OVERVIEW: Radar ornithology and biological conservation. Auk 120(2):266-277.

BIOSC 470, H470, 670 Animal Behavior;
BIOSC 472, 672 Ornithology;
ZOOL 810 Behavioral Ecology