CROW STUDIES

Most of the behavioral Directed Study projects at KSU have been studies of the American Crow, Corvus brachrhynchos.
Studies have focused on learning abilities, foraging, and vocalizations. Several of the students have presented their findings at annual meetings of the Georgia Academy of Sciences:

Debra Phillips

Debra carried out studies of "insight learning" in crows. She submitted a video made during her project and was awarded video analysis software and computer components by the Noldus Corporation. She has graciously donated this equipment to the KSUDepartment of Biological & Physical Sciences. Debra has produced an interesting web site reflecting her interests (click on her name). Debra presented her findings at the1997 Georgia Academy of Sciences meeting.

Jenny Hobson

Jenny was a student in the Masters of Education program at KSU. She was awarded "Best Student Presentation" in the Science Education Section, Georgia Academy of Sciences meeting, 1992. She developed a Middle Grades curriculum unit incorporating studies of crows.

Ramona Nichols

Ramona did two studies of "shared group repertoires" in crows, showing that family groups recognize same-group and different group vocalizations, and respond differently to these calls. Her presentation was awarded "Best Student Presentation" in the Biology Section of the 1999 Georgia Academy of Sciences meeting. She presented an update of the research at the 2001 meeting.

Jody Frost

Jody studied crow nutritional preferences, and presented her findings at the 1999 Georgia Academy meeting.

Georgia Webb

Georgia followed up on Ramona Nichol’s study with playback experiments directed at two neighboring families of crows. Her results suggest that the groups are more responsive to the calls ofknown groups s compared to those of groups they have not heard before. Previous findings of “same group recognition” were reaffirmed.

OTHER ANIMALS

Christine Sheres

Christine studied the distribution of dolphins off the Georgia coast. She presented her findings at the 1991 Georgia Academy of Sciences meeting.

Traci Nichols

Results of Traci's acoustical survey of amphibian populations were presented at the 1999 Georgia Academy of Sciences meeting.

Dale Zaborowski &Al Hanson

Dale Presented the results of a study of quail covey formations at the 2001 Georgia Academy of Sciences meeting.

Gwen Smith

Gwen studied the behavior of Zoo Atlanta's Giant Pandas, looking at the behavioral effects of introducing "enrichment objects" into their zoo habitat.(Spring, 2001.)

Chad Beck

Chad carried out a sound survey of amphibian species diversity at the Margaret and Luke Environmental Preserve in Bartow County.

Jon Gotch

The effects of anthropogenic noise levels on animal acoustic signals.