David R. Luukkonen Graduate Student Fellowship

This fellowship, established in 2023, honours the diverse and long-term contributions to avian science by the late Dr. Dave Luukkonen.

About the fellowship

This fellowship was established to honour the long-term and large-scale avian science contributions of Dr. David R. Luukkonen, who we lost in 2021.

His work – typically in collaboration with university graduate students – has helped managers understand relationships between birds and their habitats, population dynamics, and hunter desires. Initial funding for this fellowship is generously being provided by the Upper Mississippi/Great Lakes Joint Venture. Subsequent funding will be provided via an endowment established in Dave’s name through the generous contributions of organizations and family, friends, and colleagues of Dave.

Support from this Fellowship is dedicated to addressing Upper Mississippi/Great Lakes Joint Venture (JV) waterfowl, waterbird, wetland, and relevant social science evaluation priorities (see https://umgljv.org/science/). Graduate students located at any North American university are eligible for this Fellowship.

For the first three years, two awards of up to $10,000 USD/year are available to provide personal or research support for successful applicants. Each award is renewable for up to two additional years for PhD students, one additional year for students pursuing a Master’s degree, assuming annual approval of a satisfactory progress report and the need for continuing financial support.

It is awarded based on:

Applicants qualifications, including any participation in waterfowl hunting
Scientific soundness of the research proposal
Originality and creativity in study design
Expected contributions to waterfowl / wetland bird conservation and management in the JV region
Achievability of the work

Interested in applying or have any questions?

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Recent fellowship winners

Rachel Mansfield

A PhD student at Wright State University. Rachel’s research will investigate the accuracy, efficacy, and cost effectiveness of Autonomous Recording Units (ARUs) compared to human observers when detecting secretive marsh birds in wetlands.

Wetland loss across North America has resulted in an alarming decline of many wetland birds. Secretive marsh birds, named for their cryptic behavior, are difficult to observe and count, so population trends and habitat associations are poorly understood. Using ARUs can potentially expand the sampling for this vulnerable group by monitoring many sites remotely and over long periods of time. Rachel will deploy ARUs in wetlands in northern Ohio and integrate their data with human-conducted point counts to:

Estimate the relative abundance of secretive marsh birds
Evaluate secretive marsh bird habitat associations

Rachel’s project will provide monitoring recommendations for secretive marsh birds to enhance the power and precision of detecting long-term population trends and improve conservation planning.

Kelsie Huss

A MSc student at the University of Saskatchewan. Kelsie’s research will examine how tracking devices influence movements, behaviour, survival, and reproductive success in dabbling ducks.

The development of miniaturized tracking technologies has enabled new insights into animal movement and behavior. However, tracking devices may have a significant negative impact on birds, and influence the very behaviours that we are trying to study. Kelsie will evaluate how four different transmitter attachment techniques influence the movement, behaviour, survival, and reproductive success of mallards. Her research will help contextualize past research and allow researchers to design better future studies using transmitters.

Past winners

2024: Amanda Griswold, M.Sc. Assessing waterfowl production at local scales using uncrewed arial system distance sampling methods, University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point

Institute for Wetland and Waterfowl Research

David R. Luukkonen Graduate Student Fellowship

About the fellowship

Interested in applying or have any questions?

Recent fellowship winners

Past winners

Institute for Wetland and Waterfowl Research

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