News
15 Apr 2023
Quinn was awarded an NSERC PGS-D for his ongoing research on the comparative phylogeography of Polylepis birds! Congrats, Quinn!!!
04 Apr 2023
Sam was awarded an NSF GRFP for her ongoing research on the evolution of iridesence in starlings! Congrats, Sam!!!
20 Nov 2022
Nick and coauthors published on deep genetic, phenotypic, and ecological divergence in Steller’s Jays in the journal Ecology and Evolution.
27 Sep 2022
Sam was interviewed by the Advocate about her interest in bird color and her recent Special Saturday outreach event. Go Sam!
15 Sep 2022
The Fall 2022 semester is underway and the Mason Lab has been enjoying spending Thursday afternoons preparing specimens with Steve Cardiff, Donna Dittman, and many of the other ornithologists at the LSUMNS.
15 Aug 2022
We welcome Quinn McCallum to the Mason Lab! Quinn is joining our group as a graduate student and will be studying comparative phylogeography of Polylepis birds. Quinn joins us from the University of British Columbia, where he did his undergraduate honors thesis with Darren Irwin on Zonotrichia sparrows. Welcome, Quinn!
10 Aug 2022
We welcome Diego Ocampo Vargas to the Mason Lab! Diego is joining our group as the LSUMNS postdoctoral researcher and will be working with Nick to study diversificaiton dynamics in Sporophila. Diego is originally from Costa Rica and did his PhD with Al Uy at University of Miami and University of Rochester. Bienvenidos, Diego!
01 Aug 2022
Nick was part of a collaborative team (with PI Laura Lagomarsino, Co-PI Zakiya Kennedy-Wilson, Co-PI Morgan Kelly, and Co-PI Jeremy Brown) that was awarded an NSF RaMP grant for 3 million dollars to establish a postbacclaureate research program at LSU. We look forward to the Louisiana Graduate Network in Applied Evolution (LAGNiAppE) starting next summer!
30 Jun 2022
The Mason Lab travelled to San Juan, Puerto Rico, where they took part in the joint conference of the American Ornithological Society and Birds Caribbean. Everyone presented some part of their research by poster or talk and a good time was had by all.
01 Jun 2022
Nick travelled to northwestern Pennsylvania where he collaborated with Luke Musher and Jon Merwin of the ANSP to get samples of Henslow’s Sparrows for a project in collaboration with Jaime Collazo and Emily Nastase at North Carolina State University.
15 May 2022
The Mason Lab enjoyed some local field work this month in the Atchafalaya Basin, where we sampled some local breeding birds (which are surprisingly sparse in our colleciton!). Highlights included Yellow-throated Warbler, Summer Tanager, Carolina Wren, and Painted Bunting!
01 May 2022
We bid a fond farewell to two of our founding lab members, Subir Shakya and Maggie MacPherson. They are both going on to exciting new chapters in their careers. Subir will be joining Scott Edwards and Tim Sackton at Harvard while Maggie will be joining the Boreal Avian Modeling Project at Larval University.
19 Apr 2022
David has received financial support for his dissertation research from the Chapman Memorial Research Fund at the American Museum of Natural History and the American Ornithological Society. Congrats, David!
18 Apr 2022
David successfully presented his plan for dissertation research at the LSU SEE seminar series today. Congrats, David! We look forward to your road ahead.
01 Mar 2022
Happy Mardi Gras from the Mason Lab!
25 Jan 2022
Subir and Nick publish with MVZ collaborators on landscape genomics of Horned Larks in the Sierra Nevada. Early access link here!
13 Jan 2022
Nick presents synopsis of the history, current projects, and future of the LSU Museum of Natural Science to the Baton Rouge Audubon Society. YouTube link here!
25 Nov 2021
Nick publishes with Funk, Taylor, and colleagues on a supergene underlying phenotypic variation in redpolls .
25 Nov 2021
Nick publishes with Funk, Taylor, and colleagues on a supergene underlying phenotypic variation in redpolls .
30 Oct 2021
Nick gave the plenary talk at the Louisiana Ornithological Society, check it out here!
28 Oct 2021
Samantha and Nick helped out at the Yellow Rails and Rice Festival organized by LSUMNS collection managers Steve Cardiff and Donna Dittman. Everyone had a great time and saw some new birds! Geaux rails!
21 Oct 2021
Maggie and Nick publish on the morphology of migration in Tyrannus in the Biological Journal of the Linnean Society.
18 Oct 2021
New video with tour of LSUMNS coutesy of Janet Buckner and the Black in Natural History Museums Twitter campaign.
23 Sep 2021
Samantha publishes on Brown-headed Cowbird egg color in Current Zoology.
23 Aug 2021
The Fall 2021 semester is officially underway!
07 Aug 2021
David publishes on Elf Owl detectability in the Journal of Field Ornithology.
03 Aug 2021
Samantha Rutledge joins the Mason Lab as a new PhD student to begin in Fall 2021. Welcome, Samantha!
19 Jul 2021
Subir publishes on color polymorphism in the Black-headed Bulbul in Molecular Ecology.
12 Apr 2021
Nick publishes with MVZ collaborators on integrative species delimitation.
26 Jan 2021
MVZ undergrad Elisa Yang, Phil Unitt, and Nick publish a preprint on Dorsal color in “Oregon” Dark-eyed Juncos.
01 Jan 2021
Happy New Year from the Mason Lab! Looking forward to a productive 2021.
20 Dec 2020
13 Nov 2020
Nick and collaborators publish on agriculture and stable isotopes of Horned Larks in the Imperial Valley in Journal of Ornithology.
11 Nov 2020
Subir and B10K collaborators (including many other LSUMNS members) publish 363 bird genomes in Nature.
16 Sep 2020
New review in the Auk on the ecology, evolution, and quantification of plumage patterns led by Nick.
09 Sep 2020
Welcome, Maggie! A new postdoc in our lab focusing on the evolution of migration in suboscines!
24 Aug 2020
First day of classes of the first semester for the Mason Lab at LSU.
15 Jul 2020
Welcome, Subir! A new postdoc in our lab focusing on the genomics of local adaptations in Horned Larks!
15 Jul 2020
Nick has arrived in Baton Rouge! The Mason Lab is officially underway.
15 Jul 2020
Welcome, David! The first PhD student in the Mason Lab, David is interested in the evolution of migration, biogeography, and speciation.