My Life as a Field Biologist: from Deer to Digital Book in 40 Short Years

Abstract

Tom Gavin’s CAPE Lecture on December 8, 2011 provided a panoramic reprise of his research career as a Field Biologist by way of four major projects, all using marked individuals to illuminate larger aspects of animal behavior and ecology. He explored 1) the naturally skewed mortality pattern in an isolated, nonhunted population of Columbian white-tailed deer, 2) the adult Bobolink’s propensity to return to its previously used nesting site despite its annual migratory trip of thousands of miles , 3) how understory forest birds in Costa Rica live in a landscape that has been fragmented by humans, and 4) and the demise and conservation of the Idaho Ground Squirrel.