Dr. D. Eugene and Edith Strandness Endowed Professorship
The Dr. D. Eugene and Edith Strandness Endowed Professor in Biology at PLU is a prestigious and impactful endowment established through a generous planned gift from the Strandness family.
Supporting Student and Faculty Research
The endowment is strategically designed to maximize faculty-student collaboration, directly fueling undergraduate research and innovation. It achieves this by providing the appointed professor with:
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Course release time, allowing for deepened research mentorship of students.
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Funding for student research projects.
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An honorarium to bring engaging guest speakers to the biology department, enriching the academic experience.
The following student–faculty research project was made possible through the generous support of the Dr. D. Eugene and Edith Strandness Endowed Professorship in Biology.
The Role of Sexual Selection in Male Plumage Ornamentation of Western Bluebirds
Working with PLU students my research examines how ornamental plumage coloration and mating behavior interact to shape reproductive success in Western Bluebirds (Sialia mexicana). Male bluebirds exhibit striking ultraviolet (UV)–blue plumage that may act as an honest signal of genetic quality or parental investment. Using a combination of color spectrometry, genetic parentage analysis, and RFID monitoring of nest-box activity, we are investigating whether more brightly colored males achieve higher paternity success both within and outside their pair bonds, and whether plumage brightness predicts variation in parental care. By quantifying provisioning rates and breeding outcomes, we test key predictions of the good parent and differential allocation hypotheses—two competing explanations for how mate quality influences parental effort. This work integrates behavioral ecology and evolutionary theory to understand how sexual selection operates in a monogamous species with strong social pair bonds.
Habitat Conservation and Management of Western Bluebirds
Working with PLU students and the Joint base Lewis McChord Internship Program we aim to understand how habitat characteristics influence nesting success and population recovery of Western Bluebirds in the Puget Sound lowlands. Once extirpated from much of western Washington due to deforestation and loss of natural cavities, bluebirds have begun to rebound thanks to decades of nest-box restoration by the Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM) Fish and Wildlife. We investigate how factors such as habitat type, cavity orientation, and landscape openness affect bluebird occupancy, breeding success, and long-term site fidelity. This work not only contributes to regional conservation efforts for cavity-nesting birds but also provides PLU undergraduates with meaningful opportunities to engage in hands-on ecological field research and wildlife management.
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