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Janis Lou Dickinson

Associate Professor

Primary Research Areas

  • adult and extension education
  • biodiversity
  • community development
  • conservation biology
  • ecology
  • education
  • entomology
  • environmental sciences
  • evolution
  • genetics
  • landscape ecology
  • molecular genetics
  • ornithology
  • science education
  • sustainable agriculture
  • teacher education
  • urban environment

Graduate Fields

Research Focus

Dickinson`s research focuses on the costs and benefits of delayed dispersal, cooperation, conflict, and reproductive decisions in birds and insects. She is also involved in conservation related research in residential landscapes and investigating bird declines as a result of human activities.

Educational Background

  • Ph.D - Cornell University - 1987
  • B.S. - Binghamton University - 1981

Research Grants

  • URBAN BIRD GARDENS: ASSESSING THE INTEREST OF LATINO COMMUNITIES IN CITIZEN SCIENCE
  • DELAYED DISPERSAL: TEASING APART THE EFFECTS OF RESOURCES AND PARENTS

Selected Publications

PubMed Listings
  • Dickinson, J.L. and A. McGowan. 2005. Resource wealth drives family group living in western bluebirds. Proceedings of the Royal Society, London B (In press).
  • Saether, B.-E., Engen, S., Møller, A.P, Visser, M.., Fiedler, W., Matthysen, E., Fiedler, W., Lambrechts, Becker, P.H. Brommer, J.E., Bukacinski, Dickinson, J., du Feu, C., Gehlbach, F.R., Merila, J., Rendell, W., Robertson, R., Thomson, D.L., Torok, J. 2005. Time to extinction in bird populations. Ecology 86: 693-700.
  • Dickinson, J.L. 2004. Local breeding competition and a female shortage explain helping behavior and facultative sex ratio adjustment in western bluebirds. Animal Behaviour 68: 373-380.
  • Dickinson, J.L. 2004. A test of the importance of direct and indirect fitness benefits for helping decisions in western bluebirds, Behavioral Ecology 15: 233-238.
  • Ekman, J., J.L. Dickinson, B.J. Hatchwell, and M. Griesser. 2004. Delayed dispersal. Pp 35-47 in: W.D. Koenig and J.L. Dickinson (eds) Evolution and Ecology of Cooperative Breeding in Birds. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
  • Dickinson, J.L. and B.J. Hatchwell. 2004. Fitness conseqeuences of helping behavior. Pp 48-66 in: W.D. Koenig and J.L. Dickinson (eds) Evolution and Ecology of Cooperative Breeding in Birds. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
  • Dickinson, J.L. 2001. Extrapair copulations in western bluebirds: female receptivity depends on male age. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 50: 423-429.
  • Kraaijeveld, K. and J.L. Dickinson. 2001. Family-based winter territoriality in western bluebirds: the structure and dynamics of winter groups. Animal Behaviour. 61: 109-117.