Bernard Lohr
Assoc Prof
| Phone |
410-455-2244
|
|---|---|
| blohr@umbc.edu | |
| Education |
Ph D, Duke University (1995)
MS, University of Wisconsin (1989)
BA, Cornell University (1984)
|
| Website | http://userpages.umbc.edu/~blohr/ |
About
Dr. Lohr received an undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences with a concentration in Neurobiology and Behavior from Cornell University. He went on to complete a Masters degree in Biological Sciences at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee working on vocal sequence organization in birds. He later obtained a PhD from Duke University where he studied song perception in chickadees. From there he went on to a postdoc at the Center for Comparative and Evolutionary Biology of Hearing at the University of Maryland where he worked on auditory mechanisms in a range of bird taxa including songbirds, parrots, woodpeckers, owls, and hummingbirds.
Research Interests
We are interested in bioacoustics and auditory sensory ecology, taking an integrative approach that draws on methods from behavioral ecology, neurophysiology, comparative psychology, and evolutionary biology to investigate fundamental questions in animal communication. How do animals encode information in the signals they produce? How do they extract information from such signals perceptually? How do these processes function in “noisy” natural habitats? And, ultimately, what factors shape the evolution of such processes? We study these questions comparatively, and have worked on a variety of bird groups including hummingbirds, owls, and woodpeckers, but focus principally on songbirds as a model for understanding the interplay of signal production, signal perception, and properties of the acoustic channel.
Teaching Interests
Animal Behavior (BIOL 480 / 680)
Undergraduate Research Seminar (BIOL 499L)
Graduate Research Seminar in Evolution and Ecology (BIOL 769)
Comparative Animal Physiology (BIOL 305)
Selected Classes
| Fall 2016 | BIOL 480 – Animal Behavior |
|---|---|
| BIOL 499 – Undergrad. Lab/Field Rsch | |
| Spring 2016 | BIOL 499L – Undergraduate Research Seminar |
| Fall 2015 | BIOL 680 – Animal Behavior |
| Spring 2015 | BIOL 769 – Res Sem:Evol & Ecology |
| Spring 2014 | BIOL 305 – Comp. Animal Physiology |
| BIOL 497H – Honors Capstone Course |
Intellectual Contributions
(2021) Florida grasshopper sparrow nests are oriented northeast Wilson Journal of Ornithology
(2020) Female song in eastern bluebirds varies in acoustic structure according to social context BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY AND SOCIOBIOLOGY
(2016) Non-salient geographic variation in birdsong in a species that learns by improvisation. Ethology
(2016) Multiple estimation methods suggest similar repertoire sizes for Gulf Coast and eastern marsh wrens with no correlation between repertoire size and migratory distance Behaviour
(2016) Divergence in calls but not songs in the Orchard Oriole complex: Icterus spurius and I. fuertesi. Journal of Avian Biology
(2016) Acoustic sequences in animals: A tutorial review and prospectus Biological Reviews
(2015) Probable Interspecific Song Learning in a Florida Grasshopper Sparrow (Ammodramus savannarum floridanus) The Wilson Journal of Ornithology
(2015) Digital photography quantifies plumage variation and salt marsh melanism among Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) subspecies of the San Francisco Bay The Auk
(2015) Habitat Use and Movement Patterns by Dependent and Independent Juvenile Grasshopper Sparrows during the Post-Fledging Period Journal of Field Ornithology
(2013) The function of song types and song components in Grasshopper Sparrows (Ammodramus savannarum) Behaviour
(2013) Auditory brainstem responses and auditory thresholds in woodpeckers: submitted to the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America Journal of the Acoustical Society of America