The Uehling Lab in the Department of Biology at West Chester University explores questions about songbird behavior, foraging ecology, and conservation. In this meeting, Dr. Jenny Uehling’s students will share their ongoing research, much of which focuses on cavity-nesting songbirds in the West Chester, PA region. Cavity-nesting songbirds make an excellent study system because we can record highly specific data about their timing of nesting and their reproductive success, and we can measure and take samples from individual birds. Jenny’s students will discuss their research on songbird diet, including work exploring the weather factors that govern insect prey availability and work investigating whether birds’ diets predict their exposure to microplastic pollutants. Additionally, since setting up a system of nest boxes in the West Chester region, the Uehling Lab has discovered a large amount of human trash in the nests of many songbird species, and they will share investigations around whether different species use different quantities or types of trash.

---

Jenny received her undergraduate degree from the University of Chicago and was a DVOC intern before pursuing her PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Cornell University. Jenny started as an assistant professor at West Chester University in Fall 2023. Since then, she has been lucky to work with many talented undergraduate and graduate students!