
Sun Devil Scientists Studying City Sleep and Stress in Songbirds
University
Goals
Students interested in animal behavior and ecology will gain skills in live-capture, measurement, and behavioral assessment of wild bird sleep across the Phoenix urban-rural gradient. Students learn surgical techniques for implanting neurologgers that generate millisecond-level data on the different phases of sleep. The team will work in both the field and lab to understand the large-scale fitness effects of urban alterations to avian sleep cycles.
Issues
Employing techniques to assess if and how cities alter the sleep patterns of wild birds.
Tools and Methods
Measurement
Behavior monitoring
Behavior assessment
Data analysis
Desired Majors
Biological Sciences
Sustainability
Neurobiology
Physiology
Animal Behavior