Research Interests

In the McNeil Lab, we study how wildlife populations of conservation concern respond to conservation actions. Although I work on a variety of taxa, most of my work focuses on forest birds in the eastern United States.  

Some broad topics studied in the McNeil Lab include: 1) Assessing the roles of forest management (e.g., silviculture) in the conservation of forest bird populations, 2) Quantifying avian demographic responses (e.g., adult survival, nest survival, chick/fledgling survival, etc.) to wildlife conservation practices, and 3) assessing the extent to which non-target species (e.g., pollinators, game birds) respond to species-specific management programs. 

Although much of our work is built on strong, applied foundations, we also pride ourselves on publishing work that contributes novel insights into a variety of theoretical aspects of ecology (e.g., metapopulation theory, source/sink dynamics, etc.).