Specialties:
Avian Behavioral Ecology
Bioacoustics and Behavior
Stream Ecology
The Aquatic-Terrestrial Interface
Environmental Health & Toxicology
Associate Editor for The Auk: Ornithological Advances
Assistant Professor Leesia Marshall
Contact me at: lcmarsh.aviary@gmail.com
My research interests include studies of community and behavioral ecology, stream ecology, and toxicology with my main species of interest being Louisiana Waterthrushes, Eastern Screech-Owls, Carolina Wrens, aquatic insects, and freshwater ecology.
I have spent the last 12 years studying the Louisiana Waterthrush and its relationship to riparian habitat and stream quality along with all aspects of its natural history. My studies of the Louisiana Waterthrush currently allow me to incorporate studies of riparian and aquatic habitat and the aquatic-terrestrial interface along with impacts of anthropogenic change resulting from unconventional methods of natural gas extraction and potential effects of biomagnification and bioaccumulation of heavy metals and endocrine disrupting chemicals.
The Carolina Wren and RFID technology have allowed me to study correlations of temperature and weather patterns to sexually dimorphic behavior and vocalizations of Carolina Wrens that accompany huddled pair roosting. Future research with Carolina Wrens will include other aspects of bioacoustics, mating and territorial behavior, sexual size dimorphism, winter morbidity, and daily time budgets.
My undergraduate research student recently concluded exciting research on the topic of Eastern-Screech-Owl activity. We have to give a shout out to the wonderful and helpful astronomers at LSU, UVA-Wise, and Anthony Tekatch with Unihedron.
The Loose Alliance of Keen and/or Casual Birdwatchers of Central Louisiana
Master Naturalists of Central Louisiana
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Current Events
Ecological Society of America
The Northwest Arkansas Audubon Society
Louisiana Ornithological Society
The Ozark Society
American Ornithological Society
UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES
CURRENT AND ONGOING RESEARCH PROJECTS
The Louisiana Waterthrush, also known as the Teeter-Butt Bird, continues to be one of the most endearing of the Paruline Warblers. Unlike many others of its kind it is not brightly colored, but its bright, bubbling song that rings above the sound of its running water habitat, its nest placed in the crooks and crannies of a streamside, along with its busyness, lilting walk, and bobbing tail, provides it with a special sort of grace. Summer research opportunities are full of warblers and water.
Undergraduate research activities now include participation in the Great Saw-whet Owl Search and research on the behavior of Eastern Screech Owls. Owls have long fascinated me, but never more so than since having come to live with them among the swamps and pine forests of Central Louisiana. There is a deep cycle of time here in these southern haunts and the owls flourish along with all the other mysterious things that go bump in the night. Fall semesters are for the owls!
The Carolina Wren, Thryothorus ludovicianus, though somewhat shy and skulking, is a well-known and well-loved resident of the eastern United States and Mexico where it is commonly found in wood-lots, old-fields, forest, and is often closely associated with human habitation. It is more often recognized by its ringing songs and calls than it is recognized by sight. It has historically charmed and endeared many to the life of birds as it habituates to human habitation and places its nests in and among our outdoor belongings and inquisitively inspects every nook and cranny of our homes.