About
Dr. Lohr received an undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences with a concentration in Neurobiology and Behavior from Cornell University. He went on to complete a Masters degree in Biological Sciences at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee working on vocal sequence organization in birds. He later obtained a PhD from Duke University where he studied song perception in chickadees. From there he went on to a postdoc at the Center for Comparative and Evolutionary Biology of Hearing at the University of Maryland where he worked on auditory mechanisms in a range of bird taxa including songbirds, parrots, woodpeckers, owls, and hummingbirds.
Research interests
We are interested in bioacoustics and auditory sensory ecology, taking an integrative approach that draws on methods from behavioral ecology, neurophysiology, comparative psychology, and evolutionary biology to investigate fundamental questions in animal communication. How do animals encode information in the signals they produce? How do they extract information from such signals perceptually? How do these processes function in “noisy” natural habitats? And, ultimately, what factors shape the evolution of such processes? We study these questions comparatively, and have worked on a variety of bird groups including hummingbirds, owls, and woodpeckers, but focus principally on songbirds as a model for understanding the interplay of signal production, signal perception, and properties of the acoustic channel.
Teaching interests
Animal Behavior (BIOL 480 / 680)
Undergraduate Research Seminar (BIOL 499L)
Graduate Research Seminar in Evolution and Ecology (BIOL 769)
Comparative Animal Physiology (BIOL 305)
Education
- Ph D, Zoology — Duke University (1995)
- MS, Zoology — University of Wisconsin (1989)
- BA, Biological sciences — Cornell University (1984)
Publications
- Sex-specific responses to simulated territorial intrusions provide evidence for relaxed selection pressure on female song in Orchard Orioles 2024
- Accounting for misclassification of subspecies provides insights about habitat use and dynamics of the Florida Grasshopper Sparrow in response to fire. 2023
- The effect of habitat type and prescribed fire on the abundance of arthropod prey for the endangered Florida Grasshopper Sparrow. 2022
- Female song is structurally different from male song in Orchard Orioles, a temperate-breeding songbird with delayed plumage maturation. 2022
- Florida grasshopper sparrow nests are oriented northeast 2021
- Female song in eastern bluebirds varies in acoustic structure according to social context 2020
- Nest microhabitat influences nest site selection in dry prairie but not in pasture habitat for the endangered Florida Grasshopper Sparrow (Ammodramus savannarum floridanus). 2020
- A new statistical method to test equivalence: An application in male and female eastern bluebird song 2018
- Temporal patterns of extra-pair paternity in a population of Grasshopper Sparrows (Ammodramus savannarum) in Maryland. 2018
- Geographic variation in call structure, likelihood, and call-song associations across subspecies boundaries, migratory patterns, and habitat types in the Marsh Wren (Cistothorus palustris) 2018
- Impact of Man-Made Sound on Birds and Their Songs 2018
- Non-salient geographic variation in birdsong in a species that learns by improvisation. 2016
- Multiple estimation methods suggest similar repertoire sizes for Gulf Coast and eastern marsh wrens with no correlation between repertoire size and migratory distance 2016
- Divergence in calls but not songs in the orchard oriole complex: Icterus spurius and I. fuertesi 2016
- Divergence in calls but not songs in the Orchard Oriole complex: Icterus spurius and I. fuertesi. 2016
- Acoustic sequences in animals: A tutorial review and prospectus 2016
- Probable Interspecific Song Learning in a Florida Grasshopper Sparrow (Ammodramus savannarum floridanus) 2015
- Digital photography quantifies plumage variation and salt marsh melanism among Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) subspecies of the San Francisco Bay 2015
- Habitat Use and Movement Patterns by Dependent and Independent Juvenile Grasshopper Sparrows during the Post-Fledging Period 2015
- The function of song types and song components in Grasshopper Sparrows (Ammodramus savannarum) 2013
- Auditory brainstem responses and auditory thresholds in woodpeckers: submitted to the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 2013
Courses Taught
- Animal Behavior
- Animal Behavior
- Undergraduate Research Seminar
- Undergrad. Lab/Field Rsch
- Animal Behavior
- Undergraduate Research Seminar
- Animal Behavior
- Res Sem:Evol & Ecology
- Honors Capstone Course
- Comp. Animal Physiology