Mark's research interests lie in the evolution, biogeography, and conservation of Neotropical birds, with local work in the midwestern United States. He currently serves on the AOU South American Classification Committee and the Missouri and Kansas bird records committees.
My research has ranged from the social organization of manakins, systematics, stable isotope analyses for elucidating intra-breeding season movements of Sedge Wrens, and avian song rates and the implications for estimating populations. For over 30 years I have conducted avifaunal inventories throughout the world, especially in South America. These inventories have elucidated the distribution and status of many poorly-known species and have been used for delineating priority areas for the preservation of biological diversity. I have used behavioral (>4000 of my sound recordings are deposited at the Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds, Cornell University), genetic, and morphological data from these surveys to clarify relationships in a number of groups (e.g., woodpeckers, furnariids, Cistothorus wrens, Glaucidium pygmy-owls).
Research Projects
Completed Projects
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Long-term studies of the distributions, natural history, and ecology of the birds of the Midwestern United States.
Completed
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Biodiversity surveys across the country of Guyana, carried out in collaboration with teams from the Smithsonian Institution.
Completed
Guyana
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Sampling of birds to develop modern series of specimens and tissue samples for avian systematics.
Completed
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Sampling of birds to develop modern series of specimens and tissue samples for avian systematics.
Completed
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2008
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
1999
Professional Societies
- American Ornithologists' Union
- Cooper Ornithological Society
- Wilson Ornithological Society
- Kansas Ornithological Society
- Audubon Society of Missouri

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