Joely DeSimone

Joely is a postdoctoral researcher in the Animal Migration Research Group. She is using historical bird banding data to study bird migration from a community ecology perspective: how species interactions influence where and when birds stopover during migration.

After graduating from Amherst College in 2015, Joely worked as a research technician in Alex Gerson’s lab at UMass Amherst. She worked on a variety of projects investigating the physiological and ecological consequences of the lean mass catabolism that occurs during endurance, migratory flight. She then pursued a PhD at the University of Montana, where she studied how body condition, food availability, and the hormone corticosterone interact to influence seasonal and nomadic migratory decisions. Joely’s work combines field, captive, and lab data to better understand the physiological and ecological factors that shape the incredible long-distance movements of birds.

Learn more at joelydesimone.weebly.com