Having received an AWRR Research Fellowship in 2023 and having continued his research on the AWRR and elsewhere since, Matt Jenkins is excited to put this year’s award to work studying Arizona’s bluebirds as he pursues his PhD from The University of Arizona’s Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Following up on his previous efforts, Matt will be working across Arizona, New Mexico, and Montana using Western Bluebirds (Sialia mexicana) as a model to study “the ecological and evolutionary processes that shape adaptive behaviors”. Additionally, Matt will be expanding on his efforts to better understand the Azure Bluebird (Sialia sialis fulva), a subspecies of Eastern Bluebird local to southeastern Arizona and identified by the Arizona Game and Fish Department as a Species of Greatest Conservation Need, and to help bolster its populations by adding to his already successful southeastern Arizona bluebird nest box trails.

Across species, bluebirds are known to have high site fidelity, meaning that individual birds often return to where they hatched when attempting to breed themselves. In bluebirds, males in particular show high fidelity to their natal nesting sites. Complicating this system, however, are recent studies that show that high levels of stress in nesting females can result in offspring that are more aggressive, more likely to disperse further, and less likely to return to their natal nesting sites. As temperatures rise and precipitation becomes less predictable, it is likely that bluebirds will face increasingly stressful nesting seasons as they seek out diminishing nest site options and attempt to keep young fed on declining insect populations. As such, it’s critical that we understand how these stress-induced traits may influence the ecology, range, and behavior of these birds.

Through his research, Matt aims to better understand these stress-induced traits, to provide insights into the implications of these traits on species’ adaptability to global environmental change, and to increase science’s accessibility by engaging community scientists in his efforts. We’re excited to be able to support his work again this season, and (selfishly) we’re thrilled to enjoy the bluebirds that his efforts will bring to the AWRR!