Jeffrey Spendelow, Ph.D.
Jeff Spendelow is an Scientist Emeritus at the Eastern Ecological Science Center in Laurel, MD
From 1982-1984 he worked as a Wildlife Biologist/Ecologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (USFWS) National Coastal Ecosystems Team in Slidell, LA after receiving his Ph.D. (1980) and B.S. (1972) degrees in Biology from Yale University. In 2008 he was elected as a Fellow of the American Ornithologists’ Union, and he has been a Life Member of the AOU and several other ornithological societies since the 1970s. He has been the Director of PWRC’s Cooperative Roseate Tern Metapopulation Project (the CRTMP) ever since organizing it in 1987, and is the USGS member and Chair of the Technical Working Group of the USFWS’s Recovery Team for the endangered NW Atlantic breeding population of Roseate Terns.
Science and Products
Modelling postfledging survival and age-specific breeding probabilities in species with delayed maturity: A case study of Roseate Terns at Falkner Island, Connecticut
Modelling postfledging survival and age- specific breeding probabilities in species with delayed maturity: A case study of Roseate Terns at Falkner Island, Connecticut
Individual foraging strategies of kleptoparasitic Roseate Terns
A pair of Roseate Terns adopts another pair's egg
A nonbreeding concentration of Roseate and Common Terns in Bahia, Brazil
Predicting chick survival and productivity of Roseate Terns from data on early growth
Predicting chick survival and productivity of Roseate Terns from data on early growth
Contribution of research to management and recovery of the roseate tern: review of a twelve-year project
Variations in growth of roseate tern (Sterna dougallii) chicks: II. Early growth as an index of parental quality
Reproductive strategies for coping with poor conditions: responses of roseate terns to low food availability during the egg-laying period at Falkner Island, Connecticut
Early growth of roseate terns chicks as an index of parental quality
Female Roseate Tern fledges a chick following the death of her mate during the incubation period
Science and Products
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Modelling postfledging survival and age-specific breeding probabilities in species with delayed maturity: A case study of Roseate Terns at Falkner Island, Connecticut
We modeled postfledging survival and age-specific breeding probabilities in endangered Roseate Terns (Sterna dougallii) at Falkner Island, Connecticut, USA using capture-recapture data from 1988-1998 of birds ringed as chicks and as adults. While no individuals bred as 2-yr-olds during this period, about three-quarters of the young that survived and returned as 3-yr-olds nested, and virtually allAuthorsJeffrey A. Spendelow, James D. Nichols, J. E. Hines, Jean-Dominique Lebreton, Roger PradelModelling postfledging survival and age- specific breeding probabilities in species with delayed maturity: A case study of Roseate Terns at Falkner Island, Connecticut
We modelled postfledging survival and age-specific breeding probabilities in endangered Roseate Terns (Sterna dougallii) at Falkner Island, Connecticut, USA using capture-recapture data from 1988-1998 of birds ringed as chicks and as adults. While no individuals bred as 2-year-olds during this period, about three-quarters of the young that survived and returned as 3-year-olds nested, and virtuallyAuthorsJ. A. Spendelow, J. D. Nichols, J. E. Hines, J.D. Lebreton, R. PradelIndividual foraging strategies of kleptoparasitic Roseate Terns
We describe the kleptoparasitic behavior of ten adult Roseate Terns (Sterna dougallii) breeding at a colony at Falkner Island, Connecticut, USA between 1995 and 1998. These birds were considered habitual kleptoparasites because they stole fish repeatedly from other terns in every year they were observed at the site. No other breeding individuals were observed attempting to steal fish during our stAuthorsD. A. Shealer, Jeffrey A. SpendelowA pair of Roseate Terns adopts another pair's egg
Most cases of adoption in Common Terns (Sterna hirundo) occur when a chick leaves (or is moved from) its nest site and adopts new parents (Ian Nisbet, pers. comm.). It is not known to what extent similar behavior occurs in Roseate Terns (S. dougallii), however, because (except for studies of chick-provisioning Richards and Schew 1989, Teets 1998, Shealer 1999) until recently, little behavioral worAuthorsJeffrey A. Spendelow, J. Michelle Kuter, Corey M. GrinnellA nonbreeding concentration of Roseate and Common Terns in Bahia, Brazil
We report recoveries of banded Roseate (Sterna dougallii) and Common (S. hirundo) Terns netted at Mangue Seco, Bahia, Brazil (11? 27'S, 37? 21'W). Mangue Seco is the first reported South American location where large numbers of Roseate Terns concentrate December-March, and where members of both the North American and Caribbean populations occur together during these months. A Roseate Tern recoveAuthorsH. Hays, P. Lima, L. Monteiro, J. DiConstanzo, G. Cormons, I.C.T. Nisbet, Jorge E. Saliva, J. A. Spendelow, J. Burger, J. Pierce, M. GochfeldPredicting chick survival and productivity of Roseate Terns from data on early growth
Early growth of Roseate Tern (Sterna dougallii) chicks is a strong predictor of chick survival and hence of productivity. We developed discriminant functions to predict chick survival from body-masses measured during the first 3 days of life. Productivity is estimated by assuming that almost all A-chicks (first-hatched in each brood) survive to fledging, and using the discriminant functions to pAuthorsC.S. RobbinsPredicting chick survival and productivity of Roseate Terns from data on early growth
Early growth of Roseate Tern (Sterna dougallii) chicks is a strong predictor of chick survival and hence of productivity. We developed discriminant functions to predict chick survival from body-masses measured during the first 3 days of life. Productivity is estimated by assuming that almost all A-chicks (first-hatched in each brood) survive to fledging, and using the discriminant functions to pAuthorsI.C.T. Nisbet, J. S. Hatfield, W. A. Link, J. A. SpendelowContribution of research to management and recovery of the roseate tern: review of a twelve-year project
The Northwest Atlantic population of the Roseate Tern (Sterna dougallii) is largely confined to a small breeding area along the northeast coast of the USA between 40? and 42?N. This population was listed as endangered in the USA in 1987 because it was dangerously concentrated into a few breeding sites (85% on two islands in the 1980s). The nesting population in the area from Long Island, New YorAuthorsI.C.T. Nisbet, J. A. SpendelowVariations in growth of roseate tern (Sterna dougallii) chicks: II. Early growth as an index of parental quality
We measured growth of Roseate Tern (Sterna dougallii) chicks at a colony in Connecticut in 10 successive years. Data on body mass during the first three to four days of life were fitted to a quadratic regression model, yielding three parameters of early growth for each of 1,551 chicks: mass at hatching (Mo), linear growth (a) and quadratic growth (b). First chicks in each brood (A-chicks) exceedAuthorsI.C.T. Nisbet, J. A. Spendelow, J. S. Hatfield, James M. Zingo, G.A. GoughReproductive strategies for coping with poor conditions: responses of roseate terns to low food availability during the egg-laying period at Falkner Island, Connecticut
No abstract available.AuthorsJ. A. Spendelow, James M. Zingo, J. S. HatfieldEarly growth of roseate terns chicks as an index of parental quality
No abstract available.AuthorsI.C.T. Nisbet, J. A. Spendelow, J. S. Hatfield, G. Gough, James M. ZingoFemale Roseate Tern fledges a chick following the death of her mate during the incubation period
Despite the death of her mate during the incubation period and a shortage (or lack of availability) of food in nearby waters, a female Roseate Tern (Sterna dougallii) nesting at the Falkner Island Unit of the Stewart B. McKinney National Wildlife Refuge in Connecticut was able to raise a chick to fledging in 1995 without human assistance. The growth and development of this chick was slower than thAuthorsJ. A. Spendelow, James M. Zingo - Science