Dr. Scott Robinson

Ph.D. Princeton, 1984
Katherine Ordway Professor of Ecosystem Conservation

Florida Museum of Natural History
Dickinson Hall
voice: (352) 392-1721 x509

Research Interest

I study the ecology, behavior, and conservation of birds. My laboratory uses the approaches and theoretical insights of basic ecology and behavior to study questions of conservation significance in various ecosystems in North America and in the tropics. Current research projects include effects of forest and grassland conservation on birds in the American Midwest, effects of urbanization on birds communities, avian brood parasitism, and tropical forest bird community organization and conservation. I am especially interested in determining the decision rules used by birds in selecting breeding sites and then determining if these rules are adaptive in human-modified habitats.

Students Currently Supervised

Christine Stracey (PhD)
Studies behavioral decision rules of invasive birds with a goal of understanding the evolution of commensalism in urbanized environments.

Wendy Schelsky (PhD)
Studies colonial weavers in Uganda to address the decision rules used by birds faced with an almost completely human-altered landscape.

Jill Jankowski (PhD, co-advised by Doug Levey)
Plans to study the mechanisms underlying elevational distribution of closely related bird species in the Peruvian Andes.

Gustavo Londono (MS/PhD, co-advised by Doug Levey)
Studying the effects of nest microclimate on the ecology and behavior of adult birds along elevational and successional gradients.

Representative Publications

Russo, S.E., J. Terborgh, and S.K. Robinson. 2003. Size:abundance relationships of an Amazonian forest bird community: Implications for the energetic equivalence rule. American Naturalist 161:267-283.

Van Bael, S.A., J.D. Brawn, S.K. Robinson. 2003. Birds defend trees from herbivores in a neotropical forest canopy. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A. 100:8394-8307.

Robinson, S. K., and W.D. Robinson. 2001. Avian nesting success in a selectively harvested north temperate deciduous forest. Conservation Biology 15:1763-1771.

Brawn, J.D., S.K. Robinson, F.R. Thompson,III. 2001. The role of disturbance in the ecology and conservation of birds. Annual Review of
Ecology and Systematics 32:251-276.

Rothstein, S.I. and S.K. Robinson, eds. 1998. Avian brood parasitism: Studies in coevolution. Oxford University Press, Oxford, England