Projects

Dispersal, gene flow, and conservation of the Florida Scrub-Jay

The Florida Scrub-Jay is a federally threatened species that occurs in a habitat that is increasingly threatened by development. Effective conservation of this charismatic species requires information on how these jays move between habitat patches, and on the effects of ever-increasing habitat fragmentation and isolation. Conservation of the jay is important also because it serves as a “flagship” for many less conspicuous threatened species that occur in its specialized habitat.

The core of this National Science Foundation-funded project is to use both field observations of jay movements and DNA-based measures of gene flow to understand how jays move about their environment. By determining patterns of DNA variation, we can look back through time to determine dispersal patterns when the jay habitat was less fragmented. Using a combination of DNA tests and tracking live jays, we can see how jays are dispersing now. Using computer models that incorporate these studies, we can then predict how jays will respond in the future to a variety of conservation plans.