Caroline Stahala

Ph.D. student
cstahala@gmail.com, office:  KIN 4079

B.S. Biology – Univ. of North Carolina 
M.S. Zoology - North Carolina State University

Research interests - Population and behavioral ecology of avian species for their future conservation.  Although Caroline has worked with a variety of species in the past, including grassland, forest, and coastal birds, her current research focuses on the Bahama Parrot (Amazona leucocephala bahamensis).   Caroline’s previous work on this species focused on the population biology of the parrot, particularly survival and breeding biology. During her Ph.D. work, she will expand this research to investigate the evolutionary basis of variation in breeding behavior in parrots and other frugivorous birds of the Bahamas.

Megan Jones

Ph.D. student
majones@bio.fsu.edu, office: KIN 4004 

B.S. Wildlife Biology- Humboldt State University 

Research Interests -  Megan is interested in behavioral and evolutionary ecology.  In particular, she is interested in how cooperative behaviors have evolved and how those behaviors are maintained within species.  Her PhD research is focused on cooperative male displays in Pipridae (manakins).  

Jessica Lux

M.A. student
jlux@bio.fsu.edu, office: KIN 4079

B.S. Biological Sciences - Colorado State University

Research interests - Jessica is interested in the evolution of cooperative breeding in birds and how this behavior is currently maintained in populations.  She is planning to look at how food availability affects group size in the cooperatively breeding brown-headed nuthatch, a small passerine native to the pinelands of Florida and the Southeastern US.

Samantha Lantz

Research Assistant & Lab Manager
B.A. Willamette University
M.S. Florida Atlantic Univerity

Sam is manager of the molecular laboratory, and will be coordinating lab and field data collection for a year before starting her Ph.D. After getting to know Panama as a field assistant in 2009, she's looking forward to leading the 2010 field season. Sam enjoys biking, photography, recreational as well as professional birding, geocaching, and taming Chupacabras.

Maria Wieselmann

Interim Lab Manager; 4092 King Life Sciences Building
B.S. in Biological Sciences, Florida State University

Maria was in charge of setting up and troubleshooting our current genetics lab in 2008, and now taking control of filling out and linking our behavioral databases. She has her sights set on grad school with an interest in molecular and cellular biology, and perhaps veterinary pathology. In addition to PCR reactions and agarose gels, she enjoys escaping benchwork to go backcountry camping. Maria grew up in Panama but Lance-tailed Manakins didn't play a major role in her life until well after she moved to Tallahassee, FL.

If you're interested in joining the lab group, see the information for prospective graduate students.

Lab Alumni

Aubrey Sirman

Directed Independent Study student, Fall 2008
Florida State University junior

Research Project: Sex ratio variation in relation to female age: a robust trend in lance-tailed manakins? Aubrey genetically analyzed chick sex and tested a trend of sex ratio bias in relation to female age in a new dataset to determine whether it is consistent across years. Aubrey is currently completing an independent project on territorial singing in Bachman's Sparrows, in collaboration with Jim Cox.

Field Assistant Hall of Fame

A page celebrating Lance-tailed manakin field assistants from 2000 to present