Abolins-Abols Lab
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About
The Abolins-Abols lab studies the physiology and ecology of birds. We are particularly interested in how birds living in cities respond to urban hazards such as heat, chemical pollution and light pollution. We collaborate with environmental health scientists to understand how bird response to urban hazards parallels that of humans. Other areas of interest in the lab include evidence-based pedagogical research, life history trade-offs, the cellular and genetic mechanisms that underlie feather color diversity and neural mechanisms that underlie behavioral diversity. To find out more about what we do, please visit this webpage: https://mikusabolins.weebly.com/
Key Research Areas
- Urban ecology
- Stress biology
- Ecotoxicology
- Physiology
- Avian ecology
- Behavior
- Environmental health
Team
Mikus Abolins-Abols, PhD. Principal investigator
m.abolins-abols@louisville.edu | View Research Profile
- Carolina Villalona, Graduate student
- Keegan Abeson, Graduate student
Our Work
- Relationship between green space, pollution, and urban bird health
- Using sentinel animals to evaluate urban health hazards
- The effect of urban heat island on avian physiology and fitness
- Using Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) to improve student self-efficacy and learning gains.
- Abolins-Abols, M., Christian, N., Masters, J.A., Pigg, R.M., 2024. A Customizable Inquiry-Based Statistics Teaching Application for Introductory Biology Students. CourseSource. 11. https://doi.org/10.24918/cs.2024.
- Hanauer, R.E., Abolins-Abols, M., Brenner, A.M., Gall, B.J. and Ketterson, E.D., 2023. Chronic disturbance induces attenuation of the acute glucocorticoid response in an urban adapter, the dark-eyed junco. Frontiers in Bird Science, 2, p.1245853.
- Abolins-Abols, M., Peterson, M., Studer, B., Hale, M., Hanley, D., Bentley, G., Hauber, M.E., 2023. Patterns of stress response to foreign eggs by a rejecter host of an obligate avian brood parasite. Ecology and Evolution 13, e9691.
- Turner, A.M., Di Giovanni, A.J., Antonson, N.D., Scharf, H.M., Abolins-Abols, M., Hauber, M.E., 2022. Non-invasive elevation of circulating corticosterone increases the rejection of foreign eggs in female American robins (Turdus migratorius). Hormones and Behavior 146, 105278.
- Winnicki, S., Hauber, M.E., Benson, T., Abolins-Abols., M. 2022. Ground-nesting by arboreal American robins (Turdus migratorius). Ecology and Evolution 12: e8489.