With this grant, Cori plans to sequence nestling fecal samples collected in the 2019 field season around Boulder to determine what insects chickadee adults are feeding their nestlings. In conjunction with insect surveys conducted around nesting boxes, this information will shed insight into how changing insect populations could affect chickadees in the Front Range.
Johanna will use the grant to continue her work on meadowlark (Sturnella) population structure and divergence. This is a continuation of Johanna's honors thesis research, which focused on delineating species boundaries between Eastern, Western, and Lilian's meadowlarks and was completed this spring.