Calandra Stanley is an avian behavioral ecologist and conservation biologist who conducts fundamental and applied research to understand the processes and mechanisms driving the response of individuals, and in turn, the capacity of populations to respond to environmental change. Her research program has focused on migratory bird systems and falls into two main themes: (1) Elucidating drivers of animal movement and (2) Bridging gaps in full-annual cycle conservation science for declining species. To achieve this goal, she focuses on movement strategies as a key behavioral trait and uses both empirical and experimental approaches that integrate cutting-edge technology with captive and field studies that span across the Western hemisphere. For her postdoctoral research she has developed a collaborative international research program that takes a full-annual cycle approach to investigate the drivers of population decline of Yellow-billed cuckoos (Coccyzus americanus), a U.S. federally threatened migratory bird. She earned her Ph.D. in biological sciences at the University of Maryland, College Park under the supervision of Dr. Peter Marra and Dr. Michele Dudash. Her dissertation quantified patterns of movement and their ecological drivers across the annual cycle for a declining migratory songbird (Hylocichla mustelina) and built on research conducted during her M.Sc. on the non-breeding ecology of Hylocichla mustelina at York University with Dr. Bridget Stutchbury.
