Student Uses Graduate Fellowship for the Birds

by Evelyn Boswell

09/18/97 BOZEMAN -- Rebecca Taylor loves national parks as much as the next person, but she doesn't want to study them.

"I wanted to do something more practical than that," says Taylor, who would just as soon find the next canary in a coal mine.

Taylor is the recipient of a $73,500 National Science Foundation graduate fellowship that she brought to Montana State University-Bozeman this fall. With the three-year fellowship, she plans to find and study a species of bird that will indicate the health of a highly managed ecosystem.

"As a conservation-oriented person, it's very important to me to look for ways that we can use the land and still provide for wildlife habitat," Taylor said.

Taylor doesn't know yet which species she will study, but a look at her interests could help make a prediction. While at MSU, Taylor is seeking a master's degree in agronomy. She has a strong background in avian ecology.

The combination of the two interests could result in a study of the vesper sparrow, said Bruce Maxwell, Taylor's major advisor. Vesper sparrows live and nest in grasslands, but they have become adapted to Montana wheat fields, as well. Wheat fields and other small grain production systems are good examples of highly managed ecosystems.

"That's the kind of thing I was looking at - avian survival issues tied in with human management issues," Taylor commented.

Taylor received her undergraduate degree in 1991 from the University of Wisconsin in Madison after majoring in wildlife ecology and zoology. A native of Shaker Heights, Ohio, Taylor said she decided to carry her graduate fellowship to MSU for three reasons.

She was impressed for one, with the collaborative research that was already underway between Maxwell and avian ecologist Jay Rotella. Maxwell is an associate professor of weed ecology and agroecology.

"I felt that was really unusual that Bruce and Jay were already doing this collaboration and their collaborations were what I was very interested in," Taylor remarked.

She was also drawn to MSU because Maxwell and Rotella "were very, very reasonable people to deal with. I have had a lot of experiences with professors that have not been like that."

Finally, Taylor said, "I love Montana. I just do."

Taylor's fellowship will cover all of her tuition and stipends and some of her research costs. Because of the logistics and convenience, she hopes to work around Three Forks where researchers have already collected preliminary data on the birds in that area, Taylor said. Another possibility is the "triangle area" of Montana with its abundance of organic farms.

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