Welcome to the Animal Migration Research Group at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science’s Appalachian Lab. We pursue questions about animal migration biology in the context of the full annual cycle. Our research makes use of long-term banding, tracking, radar, and quantitative tools to address fundamental questions about en route biology, understand how and why migration is changing and migratory species are declining, and develop tools for the inclusion of stopover and airspace habitats into conservation and management efforts for migratory species.

We live in a rapidly changing world where many species are declining, and this is especially true for migratory species. It is possible that changes in habitat, climate, and resource availability due to unprecedented human activity are inflating the costs associated with animal migration. At the same time, advancing technologies and analytical tools are making it possible to solve many of the important mysteries about migratory animals. 

“In our times the majestic phenomena of nature may still be admired, but rarely with that added zest, permitted to the ancients, of discovery. These things have been seen before, and additions to knowledge come nowadays from those who enumerate the ordinary at their backdoors. Once in a lifetime perhaps, the ecologist is translated back into a naturalist, through chancing on a spectacle which combines grandeur with novelty.” — Lack and Lack (1951)

 

Cover Photo by Claire Nemes