Four UMBC undergraduates in Kevin Omland’s biological sciences lab have won Youth Activity Fund Grants from the Explorers Club to support team-based field research on the critically endangered, and largely unstudied, Bahama oriole (Icterus northropi). This species only lives on the remote Andros Island in the Bahamas.

The Omland lab is internationally known for expertise on oriole genetics and evolution. A major goal of this new research project is to increase awareness of the rare Bahama oriole and promote conservation of endangered wildlife in the Caribbean broadly. Omland’s hope is to not only help the bird population, but also to support sustainable economic development for the island’s residents.

The project is multifaceted, and the four grant winners reflect the interdisciplinary nature of the research. They include Alexis Scarselletta ’16 and Michael Rowley ’18, biological sciences; Jennifer Christhilf ’18, geography and environmental systems; and Daniel Stonko ’16, chemistry and biochemistry.“Having such a broad range of expertise…will allow us to collect and analyze data from a wider range of resources,” says Rowley. “We all will…learn from each other’s perspectives,” he notes, reflecting that the diverse team-based approach “will really add to the value we take away from the experience as people and as researchers.”

Rowley also shares that having this opportunity for an intensive undergraduate research experience will have many benefits for his science career. “This experience will make me more desirable to graduate programs,” he says, “but more so, it will allow me to narrow down my understanding of what I want to do with my life.”

Explorer Club grants support international fieldwork for students from across the United States in a variety of scientific fields. Previously, students in Omland’s lab have won Explorer Club grants for research in Puerto Rico and Mexico. The Omland lab also has a $12,500 grant from the MBZ Species Conservation Fund dedicated to Bahama oriole research.

Learn more about activities in the Omland lab at its Facebook page and lab page.

Photo: Bahama oriole, by Lisa McGuire (header image), and Michael Rowley ’18 and Alexis Scarselletta ’16 with a Baltimore oriole at Patapsco Valley State Park in Maryland, by Kevin Omland (second image)