Curtis Burkhalter, PhD Student
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources
- 14 College Farm Road
- Rutgers University
- New Brunswick, NJ 08901
- 732-932-3313
- curtburk@eden.rutgers.edu
Research Interests:
Biofuels and grassland birds.
My area of interest is in biodiversity issues associated with biofuels crop production. More specifically, I am interested in exploring avian population viability in the face of biofuels production. There are a number of bird species that are grassland obligates, which raises the issue of how these species will be affected by biofuel production. One way to approach this issue is to conduct demographic and behavioral analyses on these grassland obligate bird species and use this data to model and inform how biofuels production should be structured and operated. Collection of data on issues such as, but not limited to; the vegetation structure necessary for adult and juvenile survival, size of grassland fields necessary to support viable populations, as well as spatial and temporal nesting site requirements are necessary to ascertain the habitat requirements of birds in the context of grassland biofuel production. If biofuels are to also sustain grassland obligate birds, a detailed understanding of these factors will inform the size of fields where biofuel are grown, planting configurations that produce adequate structure and resources, and the timing of harvesting of the crop. An open question is whether or not the requirements of grassland dependent birds are compatible with the economic realities of biofuel production and harvesting. Thus, my research focuses on the autoecology of grassland birds with the production and marketing of biofuel grasses in an effort to ascertain if the two are mutually compatible.
