Frank La Sorte
Senior Research Associate
Expertise
Bird Migration • Climate Change • Urbanization • Biogeography • Macroecology • Environmental Pollution
My research program addresses a broad range of questions in avian ecology, behavior, evolution, biogeography, and conservation. Recent lines of inquiry include migration ecology, urban ecology, environmental pollution, temperature extremes, and island biogeography. I address these questions primarily using eBird and radar data in combination with a diversity of other ecological and environmental data sources. The central objective of my current research program is to explore the broad-scale patterns and drivers of seasonal bird distributions, with a special focus on the implications of global environmental change for migratory bird populations.
Education
Ph.D., Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, New Mexico State University
M.S., Wildlife Ecology, University of Arizona
B.A., Biology, Oberlin College
Recent Publications
Whittaker, R. J., J. Franklin, R. J. Ladle, F. A. La Sorte, and L. M. Schiebelhut (2023). Community science biogeography. Frontiers of Biogeography 15:e60136.
Haas, E. K., F. A. La Sorte, H. M. McCaslin, M. C. T. D. Belotti, and K. G. Horton (2022). The correlation between eBird community science and weather surveillance radar‐based estimates of migration phenology. Global Ecology and Biogeography 31:2219–2230.
La Sorte, F. A., C. A. Lepczyk, and M. F. J. Aronson (2022). Light pollution enhances ground-level exposure to airborne toxic chemicals for nocturnally migrating passerines. Global Change Biology. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16443
La Sorte, F. A., M. Somveille, A. M. Dokter, and E. T. Miller (2022). Seasonal species richness of birds on the world's islands and its geographical correlates. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 289:20221105.
La Sorte, F. A., M. F. J. Aronson, C. A. Lepczyk, and K. G. Horton (2022). Assessing the combined threats of artificial light at night and air pollution for the world's nocturnally migrating birds. Global Ecology and Biogeography 31:912–924.
La Sorte, F. A., A. Johnston, A. D. Rodewald, D. Fink, A. Farnsworth, B. M. Van Doren, T. Auer, and M. Strimas‐Mackey (2022). The role of artificial light at night and road density in predicting the seasonal occurrence of nocturnally migrating birds. Diversity and Distributions 28:992–1009.
La Sorte, F. A., K. G. Horton, A. Johnston, D. Fink, and T. Auer (2022). Seasonal associations with light pollution trends for nocturnally migrating bird populations. Ecosphere 13:e3994.
Morgenroth, J., F. A. La Sorte, and J. Samaha (2022). A multiscale assessment of the diversity of New Zealand's nursery trees. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening 68:127468.
Rega-Brodsky, C. C., M. F. J. Aronson, M. R. Piana, E.-S. Carpenter, A. K. Hahs, A. Herrera-Montes, S. Knapp, D. J. Kotze, C. A. Lepczyk, M. Moretti, A. B. Salisbury, et al. (2022). Urban biodiversity: State of the science and future directions. Urban Ecosystems 25:1083–1096.
Ng, W. H., D. Fink, F. A. La Sorte, T. Auer, W. M. Hochachka, A. Johnston, and A. M. Dokter (2022). Continental‐scale biomass redistribution by migratory birds in response to seasonal variation in productivity. Global Ecology and Biogeography 31:727–739.
Nilsson, C., F. A. La Sorte, A. Dokter, K. Horton, B. M. Van Doren, J. J. Kolodzinski, J. Shamoun‐Baranes, and A. Farnsworth (2021). Bird strikes at commercial airports explained by citizen science and weather radar data. Journal of Applied Ecology 58:2029–2039.
La Sorte, F. A. (2021). The bird-friendly city: Creating safe urban habitats [Book Review]. Ornithological Applications:duab039.
Knapp, S., M. J. Aronson, E. Carpenter, A. Herrera-Montes, K. Jung, D. J. Kotze, F. A. La Sorte, C. A. Lepczyk, I. MacGregor-Fors, J. S. MacIvor, M. Moretti, et al. (2021). A research agenda for urban biodiversity under the global extinction crisis. BioScience 71:268–279.
La Sorte, F. A., and M. Somveille (2021). The island biogeography of the eBird citizen-science program. Journal of Biogeography 48:628–638.
La Sorte, F. A., and K. G. Horton (2021). Seasonal variation in the effects of artificial light at night on the occurrence of nocturnally migrating birds in urban areas. Environmental Pollution 270:116085.
La Sorte, F. A., and C. H. Graham (2021). Phenological synchronization of seasonal bird migration with vegetation greenness across dietary guilds. Journal of Animal Ecology 90:343–355.
La Sorte, F. A. (2021). Cities can help migrating birds on their way by planting more trees and turning lights off at night. The Conversation.
Supp, S. R., G. Bohrer, J. Fieberg, and F. A. La Sorte (2021). Estimating the movements of terrestrial animal populations using broad-scale occurrence data. Movement Ecology 9:60.
La Sorte, F. A., A. Johnston, and T. R. Ault (2021). Global trends in the frequency and duration of temperature extremes. Climatic Change 166:1–14.
La Sorte, F. A., M. F. J. Aronson, C. A. Lepczyk, and K. G. Horton (2020). Area is the primary correlate of annual and seasonal patterns of avian species richness in urban green spaces. Landscape and Urban Planning 203:103892.
Horton, K. G., F. A. La Sorte, D. Sheldon, T.-Y. Lin, K. Winner, G. Bernstein, S. Maji, W. M. Hochachka, and A. Farnsworth (2020). Phenology of nocturnal avian migration has shifted at the continental scale. Nature Climate Change 10:63–68.
La Sorte, F. A., and M. Somveille (2020). Survey completeness of a global citizen‐science database of bird occurrence. Ecography 43:34–43.
Klingbeil, B. T., F. A. La Sorte, C. A. Lepczyk, D. Fink, and C. H. Flather (2020). Geographical associations with anthropogenic noise pollution for North American breeding birds. Global Ecology and Biogeography 29:148–158.
Coleman, T., L. Mentch, D. Fink, F. A. La Sorte, D. W. Winkler, G. Hooker, and W. M. Hochachka (2020). Statistical inference on Tree Swallow migration with random forests. Journal of the Royal Society of Statistics: Series C (Applied Statistics) 69:973–989.
Cardoso, G. C., B. T. Klingbeil, F. A. La Sorte, C. A. Lepczyk, D. Fink, and C. H. Flather (2020). Exposure to noise pollution across North American passerines supports the noise filter hypothesis. Global Ecology and Biogeography 29:1430–1434.
Wilson, S., R. Schuster, A. D. Rodewald, J. R. Bennett, A. C. Smith, F. A. La Sorte, P. H. Verburg, and P. Arcese (2019). Prioritize diversity or declining species? Trade-offs and synergies in spatial planning for the conservation of migratory birds in the face of land cover change. Biological Conservation 239:108285.
Lin, T., K. Winner, G. Bernstein, A. Mittal, A. M. Dokter, K. G. Horton, C. Nilsson, B. M. Van Doren, A. Farnsworth, F. A. La Sorte, S. Maji, and D. Sheldon (2019). MistNet: Measuring historical bird migration in the US using archived weather radar data and convolutional neural networks. Methods in Ecology and Evolution 10:1908–1922.
La Sorte, F. A., D. Fink, and A. Johnston (2019). Time of emergence of novel climates for North American migratory bird populations. Ecography 42:1079–1091.
Callan, L. M., F. A. La Sorte, T. E. Martin, and V. G. Rohwer (2019). Higher nest predation favors rapid fledging at the cost of plumage quality in nestling birds. The American Naturalist 193:717–724.
Horton, K. G., C. Nilsson, B. M. Van Doren, F. A. La Sorte, A. M. Dokter, and A. Farnsworth (2019). Bright lights in the big cities: Migratory birds' exposure to artificial light. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 17:209–214.
Horton, K. G., B. M. Van Doren, F. A. La Sorte, E. B. Cohen, H. L. Clipp, J. J. Buler, D. Fink, J. F. Kelly, and A. Farnsworth (2019). Holding steady: Little change in intensity or timing of bird migration over the Gulf of Mexico. Global Change Biology 25:1106–1118.
La Sorte, F. A., K. G. Horton, C. Nilsson, and A. M. Dokter (2019). Projected changes in wind assistance under climate change for nocturnally migrating bird populations. Global Change Biology 25:289–601.
Horton, K. G., B. M. Van Doren, F. A. La Sorte, D. Fink, D. Sheldon, A. Farnsworth, and J. F. Kelly (2018). Navigating north: How body mass and winds shape avian flight behaviours across a North American migratory flyway. Ecology Letters 21:1055–1064.
Dokter, A. M., A. Farnsworth, D. Fink, V. Ruiz-Gutierrez, W. M. Hochachka, F. A. La Sorte, O. J. Robinson, K. V. Rosenberg, and S. Kelling (2018). Seasonal abundance and survival of North America's migratory avifauna determined by weather radar. Nature Ecology & Evolution 2:1603–1609.
La Sorte, F. A., C. A. Lepczyk, M. F. J. Aronson, M. A. Goddard, M. Hedblom, M. Katti, I. MacGregor-Fors, U. Mörtberg, C. H. Nilon, P. S. Warren, N. S. G. Williams, and J. Yang (2018). The phylogenetic and functional diversity of regional breeding bird assemblages is reduced and constricted through urbanization. Diversity and Distributions 24:928–938.
La Sorte, F. A., D. Fink, and A. Johnston (2018). Seasonal associations with novel climates for North American migratory bird populations. Ecology Letters 21:845–856.
La Sorte, F. A., C. A. Lepczyk, J. L. Burnett, A. H. Hurlbert, M. W. Tingley, and B. Zuckerberg (2018). Opportunities and challenges for big data ornithology. The Condor 120:414–426.
La Sorte, F. A., D. Fink, P. J. Blancher, A. D. Rodewald, V. Ruiz-Gutierrez, K. V. Rosenberg, W. M. Hochachka, P. H. Verburg, and S. Kelling (2017). Global change and the distributional dynamics of migratory bird populations wintering in Central America. Global Change Biology 23:5284–5296.
La Sorte, F. A., D. Fink, J. J. Buler, A. Farnsworth, and S. A. Cabrera-Cruz (2017). Seasonal associations with urban light pollution for nocturnally migrating bird populations. Global Change Biology 23:4603–4619.
Ricotta, C., G. L. Rapson, U. Asmus, P. Pyšek, I. Kühn, F. A. La Sorte, and K. Thompson (2017). British plants as aliens in New Zealand cities: residence time moderates their impact on the beta diversity of urban floras. Biological Invasions 19:3589–3599.
La Sorte, F. A., and D. Fink (2017). Projected changes in prevailing winds for transatlantic migratory birds under global warming. Journal of Animal Ecology 86:273–284.
La Sorte, F. A., and D. Fink (2017). Migration distance, ecological barriers and en-route variation in the migratory behaviour of terrestrial bird populations. Global Ecology and Biogeography 26:216–227.
Barve, S., and F. A. La Sorte (2016). Fruiting season length restricts global distribution of female-only parental care in frugivorous passerine birds. PLOS ONE 11:e0154871.
La Sorte, F. A., D. Fink, W. M. Hochachka, and S. Kelling (2016). Convergence of broad-scale migration strategies in terrestrial birds. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 283:20152588.
Zuckerberg, B., D. Fink, F. A. La Sorte, W. M. Hochachka, and S. Kelling (2016). Novel seasonal land cover associations for eastern North American forest birds identified through dynamic species distribution modelling. Diversity and Distributions 22:717–730.
La Sorte, F. A., W. M. Hochachka, A. Farnsworth, A. A. Dhondt, and D. Sheldon (2016). The implications of mid-latitude climate extremes for North American migratory bird populations. Ecosphere 7:e01261.
Aronson, M. F. J., C. H. Nilon, C. A. Lepczyk, T. S. Parker, P. S. Warren, S. S. Cilliers, M. A. Goddard, A. K. Hahs, C. Herzog, M. Katti, F. A. La Sorte, et al. (2016). Hierarchical filters determine community assembly of urban species pools. Ecology 97:2952–2963.
La Sorte, F. A., W. M. Hochachka, A. Farnsworth, D. Sheldon, B. M. V. Doren, D. Fink, and S. Kelling (2015). Seasonal changes in the altitudinal distribution of nocturnally migrating birds during autumn migration. Royal Society Open Science 2:150347.
Farnsworth, A., F. A. La Sorte, and M. J. Iliff (2015). Warmer Summers and Drier Winters Correlate with More Winter Vagrant Purple Gallinules (Porphyrio martinicus) in the North Atlantic Region. The Wilson Journal of Ornithology 127:582–593.
Kelling, S., D. Fink, F. A. La Sorte, A. Johnston, N. E. Bruns, and W. M. Hochachka (2015). Taking a “Big Data” approach to data quality in a citizen science project. Ambio 44 Suppl 4:601–611.
Center
Avian Population Studies
Work607-254-2172
Email fal42@cornell.edu