Robert L. Curry Home Research Publications Students Teaching Service

White-breasted Thrasher, St. Lucia

Research My research interests include behavior, ecology, and conservation, especially of birds. Study species Black-capped Chickadee, Poecile atricapillus Carolina Chickadee, Poecile carolinensis Boreal Chickadee, Poecile hudsonica Socorro Mockingbird, Mimus graysoni Galápagos mockingbirds, Mimus spp. Cozumel Thrasher, Toxostoma guttatum White-breasted Thrasher, Ramphocinclus brachyurus Florida Scrub-Jay, Aphelocoma coerulescens Herbivorous ant-acacia jumping spider, Bagheera kiplingi

Hybridization, demography, and mating systems in chickadees

Since 1997, my students and I have been studying the ecology and social behavior of chickadee species pairs in two different settings:

• In Pennsylvania, Black-capped Chickadees and Carolina Chickadees come into parapatric contact along a long, narrow zone. In this zone, the species hybridize, and the presence of each influences the social development of the other. This project involves intensive field study of four populations:

  • Great Marsh (Chester Co.): Carolina Chickadees

  • Nolde Forest Environmental Education Center (Berks Co.): hybrid chickadees

  • Hawk Mountain Sanctuary (Berks & Schuylkill Cos.): Black-capped Chickadees (and, as of 2002, some hybrids)

  • Tuscarora State Park (Schuylkill Co.): Black-capped Chickadees

• In Nova Scotia, Black-capped and Boreal Chickadees coexist over a much broader geographic area, within which they maintain overlapping territories without hybridizing (as far as we know). Fieldwork for this project takes place at Chebogue and Deerfield, Yarmouth Co. We began studying the mating system of the Boreal Chickadee in 2007.

Recent publications from this research:

• Curry, R. L. 2012. Carolina Chickadee. Pages 294-295 in A. M. Wilson, D. W. Brauning, and R. S. Mulvihill, editors. Second Atlas of Breeding Birds in Pennsylvania. Penn State Press, University Park, Pennsylvania

• Curry, R. L. 2012. Black-capped Chickadee. Pages 296-297 in A. M. Wilson, D. W. Brauning, and R. S. Mulvihill, editors. Second Atlas of Breeding Birds in Pennsylvania. Penn State Press, University Park, Pennsylvania

• Reudink, M. W., S. G. Mech, S. P. Mullen, and R. L. Curry. 2007. Structure and dynamics of the Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) and Carolina Chickadee (P. carolinensis) hybrid zone in southeastern Pennsylvania. Auk 124:463-478 (PDF reprint available on request)

• Curry, R. L., L. M. Rossano, and M. W. Reudink. 2007. Behavioral aspects of chickadee hybridization. Pages 95-110 in Ecology and behavior of chickadees and titmice: an integrative approach (K. Otter, ed.), Oxford University press, Oxford, UK (PDF) 

• Reudink, M. W., S. G. Mech, and R. L. Curry. 2006. Extra-pair paternity and mate choice in hybridizing chickadees. Behavioral Ecology 17:56-62 (Advance Access, 26 Oct. 2005, PDF format)

• Curry, R. L. 2005. Hybridization in chickadees: much to learn from familiar birds. Auk 122:747-758 (PDF reprint available on request)

Behavioral, evolutionary, and conservation ecology of island Mimidae and similar species

Other projects that my students and I have undertaken combine the same methods, including GIS, to address ecological, evolutionary, and conservation questions. Organisms we are studying include the critically endangered Socorro Mockingbird (Mimus graysoni) on a Mexican island, and Galápagos mockingbirds on Isla Española, where I earlier conducted dissertation research. Plans for continuing research on this general topic include:

• Field studies on the Cozumel Thrasher (Toxostoma guttatum), a critically endangered single-island endemic

• Collaborative research on the evolution of cooperative breeding and song complexity in the Mimidae, a project spearheaded by Irby Lovette of Cornell University

• Field study focusing on assessment of the effects of habitat loss on the demography and social ecology of the endangered White-breasted Thrasher (Ramphocinclus brachyurus) on St. Lucia

• Field study of social ecology and reproductive biology of the Black Catbird (Melanoptila glabrirostris), a Yucatan endemic

• Social ecology of the cooperatively breeding Yucatan Wren (Campylorhynchus yucatanicus)

Recent publications from this research:

• Lovette, I., B. S. Arbogast, R. L. Curry, R. M. Zink, C. A. Botero, J. P. Sullivan, A. L. Talaba, R. B. Harris, D. R. Rubenstein, R. E. Ricklefs, and E. Bermingham. 2011. Phylogenetic relationships of the mockingbirds and thrashers (Aves: Mimidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 63:219-229

• Arbogast, B. S., S. V. Drovetski, R. L. Curry, P. T. Boag, G. Seutin, P. R. Grant, B. R. Grant, and D. J. Anderson. 2006. The origin and diversification of Galapagos mockingbirds. Evolution 60:370-382 (PDF)

• Grant, P. R., R. L. Curry, and B. R. Grant. 2000. A remnant population of the Floreana mockingbird on Champion island, Galápagos. Biological Conservation 92:285-290. (PDF)

Behavior and ecology of the herbivorous ant-acacia jumping spider, Bagheera kiplingi

In 2007, Chris Meehan and I co-discovered the unique herbivorous diet of B. kiplingi. My students and I are continuing field studies of this extraordinary species in Quintana Roo, Mexico, and beginning in 2013 in Panama.

Recent publications from this research:

• Meehan, C. J., E. J. Olson, M. W. Reudink, T. K. Kyser, and R. L. Curry. 2009. Herbivory in a spider through exploitation of an ant-plant mutualism. Current Biology 19(19): R892-893