Richard Primack and Amanda Gallinat – Concord Birds, Climate change, and Thoreau

Richard Primack is a professor of plant ecology at Boston University and
Amanda Gallinat is a visiting assistant professor of environmental studies at Colby College

The detailed records of bird sightings and phenological observations around Concord from the last 170 years—from Thoreau, Brewster, and Griscom’s notes to today’s studies by scientists at Boston University—provide a key to studying how climate change is affecting bird migration. Boston University professor Richard Primack and Colby College visiting assistant professor Amanda Gallinat present their recent research and unexpected new findings from eBird data collected in Concord.

Richard Primack is a professor of plant ecology at Boston University. He is the former Editor in Chief of the journal Biological Conservation and the author of leading textbooks in conservation biology. For the past 21 years, he and his students have investigating the effects of climate change on the plants and birds of Thoreau’s Concord.
Amanda Gallinat is a visiting assistant professor of environmental studies at Colby College. Her research investigates the effects of climate change on the timing of seasonal events, with a focus on resource availability for New England’s migratory birds. This work uses data from banding stations, herbaria, botanical gardens, and observations of plants and animals made by volunteers across the USA.