Alumnus Stephen Dinsmore Studies Birds from Perch in Iowa

Stephen Dinsmore has focused much of his life’s work in avian population biology in the landlocked confines of Iowa. But he counts an early segment of his career, when he spent barefoot seasons on North Carolina’s Outer Banks, as formative in his pursuit of measuring bird behavior and predicting a species’ future success.

“One of the overarching memories of graduate school is that it was really neat to spend a lot of time in remote areas of the Outer Banks that were really rich in wildlife,” says Dinsmore, who earned his master’s in zoology at NC State in 1994. “We were always on the beach or non-paved roads, and I never wore shoes.”

Dinsmore was inspired to study birds by his father, an ornithologist who was on the faculty of Iowa State University for 27 years. The son joined the faculty in 2005, and is a professor of wildlife ecology and associate chair of the Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management. Dinsmore continues to apply the skills he gained as a graduate student at NC State, which he recalls choosing because of its robust zoology department and the opportunity to pair his degree with a minor in statistics.

“Toward the end of my undergraduate studies here at Iowa, I became really interested in the quantitative aspects of avian biology,” he says. “It was the combination of those two things that helped me develop professionally.”

Dinsmore’s adviser was Jaime Collazo, a professor of biology and forestry at NC State, with whom he has since collaborated on many projects and manuscripts.

“When I was a student, we worked on population ecology, which remains one of my primary interests today,” he says. “This was a time when quantitative ecology was fairly new, so it was a real springboard for me, professionally.”

Quantitative ecology is a blending of traditional ecology, an understanding of the natural processes and interactions of organisms, with tools that apply greater quantitative rigor.

Dinsmore’s current research focuses on issues of demography and habitat management of birds. He also has conducted independent research since 1991 on mountain plovers, curiously named birds that are found in the mountains, but are native to the grasslands of the western Great Plains.

“So much of what I do today has direct ties to my time at NC State,” he says. “I knew from a very young age that I wanted to do something with birds and follow in my father’s footsteps. My experience there made that possible.”

(Original story at Red & White for Life)