Gregory S. Keller

Associate Professor of

Conservation Biology and

Landscape Ecology

Gordon College
Wenham, MA 01984
greg.keller@gordon.edu
978-867-4852

Primary Research

The focus of my research has been on habitat use, productivity, and survivorship of different organisms, particularly as a result of human alteration of natural habitats. Although my interests have shifted among different habitats, various taxonomic groups, and different emphases, the over-riding theme in my research has been on conservation of organisms, particularly birds, at multiple scales in human-dominated landscapes.

Currently, I am interested in seasonal differences in habitat use by migratory birds. Constraints imposed on birds during the breeding season (such as food provision for offspring) are alleviated during migration and may allow them to use different habitats. I want to determine if I can predict habitat use by the avian community during different seasons at both the habitat and landscape levels. In my research, I focus on the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and foraging behavior to understand differences in habitat use at local and regional scales.

Ongoing Research Projects

What do migratory woodland songbirds do when there is no woodland during migration? I am comparing bird communities in three habitats (native stands of cottonwood and elm, residential parks, and invasive stands of salt cedar) to determine seasonal differences on the Llano Estacado of New Mexico, an area of short-grass prairie with limited (<1%) wooded habitat. I am investigating whether bird behavior can be used as an index to habitat quality by comparing strike rate and success and movement rate of Wilson's warblers, MacGillivray's warblers, and yellow-rumped warblers during spring and fall migration.

Llano Estacado near Fort Sumner, NM –

What should woodland songbirds do as they migrate?

How are birds impacted by fragmentation during migration? I’m comparing songbird communities in regions with different levels of forest fragmentation to add to the growing understanding of this important impact. I am using GIS and foraging behavior to see if communities are influenced by the amount of human disturbance and the proximity to the coast in eastern Massachusetts and New Hampshire. I’m hoping for some Gordon student help – email if you want to learn!

Black-throated Green Warbler (photo Julian Avery)

Julian Avery (former ENMU graduate student) monitoring foraging behavior of migrants at a riparian corridor

Can human-influenced habitats be substitutes for natural landscape features? I’m comparing the uniqueness of bog habitats in northern New England to regenerating clearcuts to see if these features may equivalent in use by migratory songbirds and small mammals.

Henry Keller in a spruce bog in central New Hampshire

Student Research

Todd Kuykendall (ENMU graduate student): Effects of road intensity, corridors, and landscape composition on movement of small mammals of the Llano Estacado in Texas

Todd Kuykendall, former ENMU graduate student, with Coye Robbins trapping small mammals

Julian Avery (ENMU graduate student): A multi-scale landscape study on stopover ecology of birds in the north-central mountains of New Mexico with an emphasis on Nearctic-Neotropical migrants

Spruce-fir montane forest in central New Mexico (photo Julian Avery)

Storm Usrey (ENMU graduate student): Effects of landscape composition on flushing distance of scaled quail and northern bobwhite3 in eastern New Mexico

Storm Usrey, former ENMU graduate student on right, with Levi Irwin

Holly Marchman (ENMU graduate student): Landscape effects on abundance and movement patterns of wintering red-tailed and ferruginous hawks in eastern New Mexico