5/This suggests that mice exhibit incomplete genetic compensation, likely because other environmental factors also influence oxygen demand. The short-term need to shiver when it's cold, for instance, may outweigh the longer-term negative consequences that high blood viscosity has on the heart.

4/In the field, however, across >4000m of elevation, mice increase their hematocrit and hemoglobin at a rate in between those of low- and high-elevation mice in the lab. Thus, high-elevation populations of mice in the wild exhibit higher concentrations than those same populations do in the lab.

3/In the lab, mice from high elevations showed only a small increase in hematocrit and hemoglobin at moderate simulated elevations and no additional increase at higher elevations. Two separate populations of mice from low elevations, on the other hand, kept increasing their Hct & Hb concentrations.

1/How do maladaptive responses to novel environments influence trait evolution? With field & lab studies, we (@jpvelotta.bsky.social & @mstager.bsky.social) explored this in deer mice along an elevational gradient. And...it's complicated! 😱

academic-oup-com.silk.library.umass.edu/evolut/artic...

One of the best parts of tracking birds is getting reports of those birds from far away. Thus, it was so cool to learn that not one, but two of the Willet our Mass Audubon-led team tagged in Massachusetts in June were seen in Barbados! Thanks to Michael St John and other birders for their sightings!

5/Finally, on Friday at #AOS2025, in Grand Ballroom B at 3:45, I will be standing in for Julián García-Walther to talk about his research on the effects of sea level rise on the waterbird community of NW Mexico. His work combines detailed oceanographic modeling and fine-scale bird tracking data.

4/On Thursday morning at #AOS2025, postdoc Teresa Pegan, will be giving the James Cooper Early Professional Award Plenary on, "The Evolutionary Consequences of Migration." Godwits will only play a small role in her talk, but she will have much more to share about their genomics at future meetings!

3/Following Maria's talk, joint Stager-Senner lab postdoc, Paul Dougherty, will be talking at #AOS2025 in Grand Ballroom A at 10:45. He is talking about tracking Lazuli Buntings to understand the cues that drive when and where they molt each fall, as well as why fieldwork in Montana is awesome!

2/On Wed morning at #AOS2025, lab collaborator Maria Stager will be giving the Ned Johnson Early Investigator Award Plenary. Maria will be talking about her amazing work at the interface of physiology, evolution, and ecology in a talk entitled, "The importance of flexibility in a changing world."

1/Lots going on from the Senner Lab and the @umassamherst.bsky.social community at #AOS2025! @feipenghuang.bsky.social gets the ball rolling with Poster #13 on Tuesday evening. He will be presenting on how Hudsonian Godwit chicks (try to) avoid predators in space and time.

3/Winter storms, especially during strong El Niño events, can erode berms. It may take years for them to re-form. Without berms, terns and plovers can struggle to find nest sites. El Niño events are also becoming stronger and more frequent, leading to prolonged periods without berms on some beaches.

2/The danger of flooding also influences where birds place their nests on beaches. 'Berms' are platforms of sand that form above areas with high wave action. Least Terns and Snowy Plovers preferentially nest on berms when they exist, thereby largely avoiding both waves and unusually high tides.

3/Next we asked whether individual birds are changing their migratory timing over the course of their lives. We unfortunately only had one individual that we tracked for long enough to expect to see such changes, but it followed the population-level pattern exactly - shifting its timing by 6 days.

2/But why? First, we found godwits are also departing their nonbreeding sites in Chile 6 days later, but continue to complete their northward migrations in ~24 days. This, despite the fact that trans-hemispheric migratory birds have been hypothesized to have largely inflexible departure timing.

Help make the @umassamherst.bsky.social campus bird friendly! Since 2022, hundreds of student volunteers have found 100s of bird-window collisions. With $2100 we can put up bird-safe window coverings on one of the deadliest buildings. You can donate here: minutefund.uma-foundation.org/project/46296

3/On the other hand, our estimates for South American breeding species are far higher than previous estimates, likely because no systematic surveys had been carried out for most of these species. Magellanic Oystercatchers, for one, may have a far larger population than previously thought (~165000).