Anna Chalfoun
My research has primarily revolved around the desire to understand why animals choose the habitats that they do, and the fitness consequences of those choices. Addressing these questions, I believe, will lead to an improved understanding of the evolution of wildlife-habitat associations, and better information for land managers concerned with wildlife conservation.
For my master’s research, I examined the distribution of avian nest predators in relation to habitat fragmentation, in order to better understand elevated nest predation rates near habitat edges. While a Ph.D. student under Tom Martin at the University of Montana, I began work in sagebrush steppe systems. Detailed analyses focused on the Brewer’s sparrow (Spizella breweri) which served as an excellent model species for asking questions about habitat selection at multiple spatial scales with respect to multiple reproductive fitness consequences.
Currently I am working in a similar system but with a focus on understanding how human disturbance may influence both habitat choices and breeding behaviors of birds. Field work is taking place within shrubsteppe habitats in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, and with respect to the construction of a new bicycle pathway in the park.
I have also dabbled in the area of avian life history evolution, and especially incubation behavior.
Publications
Chalfoun, A., and T. E. Martin. Habitat structure mediates predation risk for sedentary prey: Experimental tests of alternative hypotheses. In revision for Journal of Animal Ecology.
Chalfoun, A., and T. E. Martin. Multiple spatial scales and fitness components influence determination of habitat requirements and adaptiveness of preferences. In revision for Journal of Applied Ecology
Fletcher, R. J., Jr., L. Ries, J. Battin, and A. D. Chalfoun. (Invited submission). The role of habitat area and edge in fragmented landscapes: definitively distinct or inevitably intertwined? In press, Canadian Journal of Zoology.
Chalfoun, A., and T. E. Martin. 2007. Latitudinal variation in avian incubation attentiveness and an experimental test of the food limitation hypothesis. Animal Behaviour 73: 579-585. PDF
Martin, T. E., R. D. Bassar, S. K. Bassar, J. J. Fontaine, H. A. Mathewson, A. M. Niklison, and A. D. Chalfoun. 2006. Life-history and ecological correlates of geographic variation in egg and clutch mass among passerine species. Evolution 60: 390-398. PDF
Chalfoun, A., F. Thompson III., and M. Ratnaswamy. 2002. Nest predators and fragmentation: a review and meta-analysis. Conservation Biology 16: 306-318. PDF
Chalfoun, A. D., M. J. Ratnaswamy, and F. R. Thompson III. 2002. Songbird nest predators in forest-pasture edge and forest interior in a fragmented landscape. Ecological Applications 12: 858-867. PDF