EDUCATION

B.S., The Evergreen State College, 2001

AWARDS

2005- 2006 NSF EPSCOR Fellow

Comparative physiology of senescence and life history tradeoffs in birds

Objectives:

Tradeoffs between life history traits are a central tenet of evolutionary theory because they are used to explain patterns in the diversity of life-history strategies. One such critical tradeoff is that between fecundity and life span. Fecundity is thought to be antagonistic to life span by causing earlier onset of senescence. Yet, the proximate mechanisms of senescence and their relationship to fecundity remain poorly understood.
The objective of my research is to investigate the importance of proposed physiological mechanisms of senescence (e.g. resistance to oxidative stress) and their relationship to fecundity. I will evaluate different mechanisms by comparing responses of passerine species of varying life span to manipulations that perturb the relationship between reproductive effort and reproductive output (reproductive efficiency). I plan to conduct research in both Arizona and Venezuela using passerine birds as a model system, simultaneously addressing my main question as well as the enigmatic difference between tropical and temperate passerine life-history strategies. This line of research is important to evolutionary biology because it will help elucidate how tradeoffs between fitness components evolve. It is also key to understanding how organisms respond to environmental stochasticity that affects reproductive efficiency across a gradient of life-history strategies, an important consideration for ecologists and conservation biologists.

Progress:
Summer 2006 was the pilot year of this project, and analysis of data collected is underway as of August 2006.

PUBLICATIONS

Barton, D. C., K. E. Lindquist, R.W. Henry, L. M. Luna Mendoza. 2004. Landbird and Waterbird Notes from Guadalupe Island, Mexico. Western Birds 35:186-196. [PDF]

Gardali, T., D. C. Barton, J. D. White, and G. R. Geupel. 2003. Juvenile and Adult Survival of Swainson's Thrush in Coastal California: Annual Estimates Using Capture-Recapture Analyses. Auk 120:1188-1194. [PDF]

L. M. Luna Mendoza, D. C. Barton, K. E. Lindquist, and R. W. Henry. The history of the avifauna of Isla Guadalupe, Mexico, and current conservation opportunities. Proceedings of the Restoration of Guadalupe Island Symposium, Dec 2003, Ensenada, Mexico. In press.

Barton, D. C., and A. L. Holmes. Habitat use on the Blitzen River,Oregon: Managing for trout has potential benefits for songbirds. In revision.

Alexander, J. D., D. C. Barton, and N. E. Seavy. Local and regional trends in breeding and migratory bird populations in the Klamath and Rogue River Valleys, 1993-2003. In review.

Barton, D.C., J. D. Alexander, and N. E. Seavy. Demographic mechanisms of population trends in 9 bird species breeding in the Klamath and Rogue River Valleys, 1993-2003. In prep.

Barton, D. C., and A. L. Holmes. Off-highway vehicle trail effects on nesting birds in northeastern California. In prep.

Barton, D. C., A. L. Holmes, and G. R. Geupel. Nestling weight, brood size, and first-year survival in Nuttall's White-crowned Sparrow. In prep.