[Biology-U-L] Cowbird research opportunity this spring/summer

[Biology Undergraduate List]

Hi Pam,
 this is the posting I was hoping you could send out. Thanks very much.

I am a 3rd year PhD student in EEMB and am looking for undergraduate research
assistants (preferably with GPA above 3.0, and with some research experience)
to help with my research this coming spring and early summer. I am going to be
looking at a number of factors having to do with signaling (song quality and
some plumage characteristics), immunity, and hormones in brown-headed cowbirds
and red-winged blackbirds. The work will be here in Santa Barbara county (may
require some travel around to locate and catch birds) and we'll be working most
heavily in the mornings. I'll probably need help through june, but it's hard
to gauge how long the breeding season will go for these birds so ideally you are
flexible with dates.
     Work will include catching birds, collecting morphometric data from them
(wing length, bill length, mass, etc.) drawing blood from them for hematocrit,
immunoglubbulin levels and hormone levels (testosterone, corticosterone,
estrogen and others), recording males' vocalizations, challenging the birds'
immune systems by injection an antigen into their wing (don't worry--it doesn't
hurt the bird), behavioral observations and some animal husbandry among other
things.

Please contact me ASAP to set up a meeting if you are interested--I'm hoping to
settle this in the next few days.

Thanks!
Loren


Loren Merrill
Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology
University of California, Santa Barbara
office: (805) 893-2532