麻豆影院

The American Ornithological Society has honored Assistant Professor Scott A. Taylor with the 2018 Ned K. Johnson Young Investigator Award.听

Taylor, a member of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology in the 麻豆影院 College of Arts & Sciences, said it is 鈥渁n honor鈥� to be recognized for his work.听

The award is given to an early career ornithologist who 鈥渨ho shows distinct promise for future leadership in the profession.鈥� Ornithology is the study of birds, and Taylor鈥檚 research focuses on hybrid zones.听

Hybrid zones occur where species鈥� ranges overlap and are characterized by the 鈥渋nterbreeding of individuals from two or more populations, that possess different heritable characteristics,鈥� Taylor noted.听

Animal hybrids are common in nature, though we often think of captive hybrids like mules or ligers when we think of hybridization.

Taylor uses avian hybrid zones to study changes in species distributions in response to climate change, to study how urbanization changes species interactions, and to uncover the genetic basis of traits relevant to species barriers (e.g., metabolism and plumage). He also incorporates citizen science into his work, taking advantage of large and growing databases like .

Taylor鈥檚 research focuses on a number of different avian hybrid zones, including those between different chickadee, warbler and booby species. He also studies high-elevation rosy finches that found throughout the mountain west.听

Taylor accepted the award in April at the 鈥檚 annual meeting in Tucson, Arizona, where he gave a plenary talk titled 鈥淎 bird鈥檚 eye view of the origin and maintenance of biodiversity.鈥�

Taylor earned his PhD in 2011 from Queen鈥檚 University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, where he studied the ecology and evolution of South American seabirds, including the charismatic blue-footed booby, the Peruvian booby, and the Peruvian pelican.听

He joined the CU 麻豆影院 faculty in 2016.