Dr. Jeremy J. Kirchman

Curator of Birds and Mammals
jeremy.kirchman@nysed.gov
518-474-1441

I am broadly interested in the evolution and biogeography of birds, but most of my research focuses on populations found on islands. Islands have long been considered “natural laboratories of evolution”, and studying birds on islands teaches us much about speciation, extinction, and adaptation.  I have a special interest in one group of birds, the rails (Rallidae), which are great island colonists, found even on the most remote oceanic islands.  Many rail species have evolved to become totally flightless on islands that lack mammalian predators. Closer to home, I am studying several species of birds that breed in “islands” of coniferous (boreal) forest isolated above 3000 feet of elevation in New York’s mountain ranges. I want to know if these populations of Bicknell’s Thrush, Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, Spruce Grouse and other boreal forest specialists are genetically isolated and evolving independently of one another. These high-elevation populations may be imperiled as the climate continues to warm.

Publications

2010

R. Feranec, N. Garcia, J. Arsuaga, J. Diez 2010, Understanding the Ecology of Mammalian Carnivorans and Herbivores from Valdegoba Cave (Burgos, Northern Spain) Through Stable Isotope Analysis, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 297, 263-272. 10.1016/j.palaeo.2010.08.006

2009

R. Feranec, L. DeSantis, B. MacFadden 2009, Effects of Global Warming on Ancient Mammalian Communities and Their Environments, Plos One 4, e5750. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.. 10.1371/journal.pone.0005750
R. Feranec 2009, Implications of Radiocarbon Dates from Potter Creek Cave, Shasta County, California, USA, Radiocarbon 51, 931-936.
R. Feranec, A. Paytan, E. Hadley 2009, Stable Isotopes Reveal Seasonal Competition for Resources Between Late Pleistocene Bison (Bison) and Horse (Equus) from Rancho La Brea, Southern California, Paleogeography, Paleoclimatology, Paleoecology 271, 153-160. 10.1016/j.palaeo.2008.10.005
R. Feranec, N. Garcia, J. Arsuaga, J. de Castro, C. Carbonell 2009, Isotopic Analysis of the Ecology of Herbivores and Carnivores from the Middle Pleistocene Deposits of the Sierra de Atapuerca, Northern Spain, Journal of Archaeological Science 36, 1142-1151. 10.1016/j.jas.2008.12.018
J. Hart, R. Feranec, W. Lovis, G. Urquhart 2009, Non-linear Relationship Between Bulk d13C and Percent Maize in Carbonized Cooking Residues and the Potential of False-negatives in Detecting Maize, Journal of Archaeological Science 36, 2206-2212. 10.1016/j.jas.2009.06.005
J. Cryan, R. Feranec, J. Kirchman 2009, Evolution Every Day. Legacy: The Magazine of the New York State Museum 4, 10-11
R. Feranec 2009, Evolution of Ecology in Mammals. Legacy: The Magazine of the New York State Museum 4, 13

2008

R. Feranec, J.L. Blois, E.A. Hadly 2008, Environmental Influences on Spatial and Temporal Patterns of Body-size Variation in California Ground Squirrels (Spermophilus beecheyi), Journal of Biogeography 35, 602-613. 10.1111/j.1365-2699.2007.01836.x
R. Feranec 2008, Growth Differences in the Saber-Tooth of Three Field Species, Palaios 23, 566-569. 10.2110/palo.2007.p07-079r