Dr. Jeremy J. Kirchman

Curator of Birds and Mammals
jeremy.kirchman@nysed.gov
518-474-1441

I am broadly interested in the evolution and biogeography of birds, but most of my research focuses on populations found on islands. Islands have long been considered “natural laboratories of evolution”, and studying birds on islands teaches us much about speciation, extinction, and adaptation.  I have a special interest in one group of birds, the rails (Rallidae), which are great island colonists, found even on the most remote oceanic islands.  Many rail species have evolved to become totally flightless on islands that lack mammalian predators. Closer to home, I am studying several species of birds that breed in “islands” of coniferous (boreal) forest isolated above 3000 feet of elevation in New York’s mountain ranges. I want to know if these populations of Bicknell’s Thrush, Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, Spruce Grouse and other boreal forest specialists are genetically isolated and evolving independently of one another. These high-elevation populations may be imperiled as the climate continues to warm.

Publications

2014

R. Feranec, D. Franzi, A. Kozlowski 2014, A New Record of Ringed Seal (Pusa hispida) from the Late Pleistocene Champlain Sea and Comments on Its Age and Paleoenvironment, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 34, 230-235. 10.1080/02724634.2013.784706

2013

N. Famoso, R. Feranec, E. Davis 2013, Occlusal Enamel Complexity and Its Implications for Lophodonty, Hypsodony, Body Mass, and Diet in Extinct and Extant Ungulates, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 387, 211-216. 10.1016/j.palaeo.2013.07.006
R. Feranec, D. Pagnac 2013, Stable Carbon Isotope Evidence for the Abundance of C4 Plants in the Middle Miocene of Southern California, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 388, 42-47. 10.1016/j.palaeo.2013.07.022

2012

R. Feranec, A. Kozlowski 2012, New AMS Radiocarbon Dates from Late Pleistocene Mastodons and Mammoths in New York State, USA, Radiocarbon 54, 275-279. 10.2458/azu_js_rc.v54i2.16009

2011

R. Feranec 2011, Global Problems., Global Research. Legacy: The Magazine of the New York State Museum 6, 14-15
Hart, J., Anderson, L., Feranec, R., 2011. Additional Evidence for cal. Seventh-Century A.D. Maize Consumption at the Kipp Island Site, New York, in: Rieth, C., Hart, J. (Eds.), Current Research in New York State Archaeology: A.D. 700-1300. The University of the State of New York, Albany, New York, pp. 27-40.
R. Kays, R. Feranec 2011, Using Stable Carbon Isotopes to Distinguish Wild from Captive Wolves, Northeast Naturalist 18, 253-264. 10.1656/045.018.0301
R. Feranec, N. Miller, J. Lothrop, R. Graham 2011, The Sporormiella proxy and End-Pleistocene Megafaunal Extinction: A Perspective, Quaternary International 245, 333-338. 10.1016/j.quaint.2011.06.004

2010

R. Feranec, N. Garcia, J. Diez, J. Arsuaga 2010, Understanding the Ecology of Mammalian Carnivorans and Herbivores from Valdegoba Cave (Burgos, Northern Spain) Through Stable Isotope Analysis, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 297, 263-272. 10.1016/j.palaeo.2010.08.006
R. Feranec, E. Hadly, A. Paytan 2010, Isotopes Reveal Limited Effects of Middle Pleistocene Climate Change on the Ecology of Mid-sized Mammals, Quaternary International 217, 43-52. 10.1016/j.quaint.2009.07.018