Dr. Nathan Senner
Ast. Professor, UMass, Amherst
Date: February 13, 2026
Time: 12:00pm - 1:00pm
Location: North Classroom Room 1003
How Far Can Species Bend Before They Break?
Environments around the globe are changing in myriad ways. There has accordingly been much debate about whether, and how, species can respond to these changes. I will explore the conditions under which phenotypic flexibility – the ability of an individual to reversibly alter a trait’s value – arise, when it can enable organismal resilience, and when it may be insufficient to respond to environmental changes. I will do this using the lens of long-distance migratory shorebirds, a group that exhibits some of the world’s most extreme life-history strategies, but also some of their most rapid population declines.