Jenna McCullough

My name is Jenna McCullough and I am a new master’s student at the University of New Mexico (UNM). Ornithology has always been apart of my life. I come from a line of bird watchers–my mother and grandmother have traveled the world in pursuit of birds. I continue this maternal tradition while also extending this passion into a career.

Since I became involved with field research during my freshman year at the University of Idaho, I have worked on collaborative and independent projects focused on a range of organisms, including rabbits, canids, birds, and plants. I have a strong background in avian ecological field work, with an emphasis in breeding ecology and behavior across multiple groups of avian taxa. I have one publication and two, first-authored publications in review. See my website for more!

While most of my research background is based on how birds interact with their environment, I’m most passionate about why birds have rapidly evolved and what has influenced these rates. This is called phylogenetics: the study of evolutionary relationships among species. In 2016, I began working with Dr. Michael Andersen at UNM. I am fascinated by the avian order Coraciiformes, which represents kingfishers, motmots, todies, rollers, and bee-eaters. This group is incredibly interesting— kingfishers comprise over half of species diversity while the other groups are less speciose and mostly restricted to a certain area near the tropics. While geologic events and sea level changes could influence how many species are present today, there’s also diversity in eating strategies, plumage characteristics, and ecological niches that could be influential as well. But we first need to know the evolutionary history of all the species in order to test what is influencing these evolutionary rates.

October 2016