What we do 

Lab news 

Our lab studies the physiology and ecology of birds that inhabit urban areas. We are particularly interested in how urban birds respond to hazards such as heat, chemical pollution, and light pollution. We collaborate with environmental health scientists to understand how bird response to urban hazards parallels that of humans. We also dabble in other areas such as the cellular and genetic mechanisms that underlie feather color diversity and neural mechanisms that underlie behavioral diversity. To find out more about what  we do, click here. 

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Check out this comic about our work!

October 2024

• Mikus' work on incorporating research in undergraduate laboratory courses featured in UofL A&S news.
• Mikus gets a UofL Research and Creative Activities grant for studying winter heat islands and their effect on birds. 

September 2024

• Carolina and Bella get a graduate/undergraduate student research grant from UofL
  

​August

• Keegan joins our lab as a masters student

July 2024

• Our lab's biology teachers featured in UofL news.
• Valentina, Elise, Izzy, Makenzie, and Erin present posters at the UofL Summer Research Symposium.

June 2024

• The lab starts collecting samples for oxidative stress analysis in robins from high and low pollution locations across Louisville. 
• Two local high school teachers join the lab for the summer as part of the UofL Bio-Ret program.

May 2024

• Carolina starts her research on Common nighthawk responses to artificial light at night.
• Izzy starts her SROP-funded summer undergraduate research on nighthawks.
• Valentina and Elise start their KEEP-funded summer research on environmental health.
• First pedagogical papers published in collaboration with the Christian, Pigg, and Masters labs at UofL.​