Golden-winged warbler (Vermivora chrysoptera) COSEWIC assessment and status report: chapter 14

Biographical summary of report writer

Rachel Vallender-Fraser recently completed her Ph.D. at Queen's University under the supervision of Dr. Raleigh J. Robertson. Rachel began studying the breeding behaviour of Golden-winged Warblers in September 2000 for her Master’s thesis. She successfully defended this work and began her Ph.D. in April 2002. The title of her dissertation is "Examining avian hybridization using genetic markers: dynamics of mate choice, disease and rapid introgression." During the course of her Ph.D., Rachel formed the Golden-winged Warbler Working Group that brought together more than 25 researchers from Canada and the U.S. in order to share research ideas and facilitate discussion on the conservation of this species. The group held a Golden-winged Warbler Conservation Workshop in Siren, WI in August 2005. The focus of this workshop was to enact conservation measures in areas that are most at risk, and to share results from recent research conducted throughout the breeding and wintering range of this species.

In addition, at the 122nd annual American Ornithological Union Conference in Québec City in August 2004 Rachel organized and chaired a symposium entitled "The conservation of Golden-winged and Blue-winged Warblers: evolutionary, ecological and behavioural dynamics in hybridizing species".  Rachel is starting a post-doc at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in June 2006 where she will continue her work on Golden-winged Warbler conservation and warbler phylogenetics. Rachel will also continue to work with members of the Golden-winged Warbler Working Group and GOWAP (Cornell) using genetic markers to identify pure populations of Golden-winged Warblers, and to aid in enacting appropriate conservation measures.

Page details

Date modified: