Kerry's research interests are in ecology, particularly at the levels of individual behavior, population dynamics, community organization, and biogeography, with an emphasis in conservation biology of tropical systems. His most recent work in Costa Rica combines field censuses of montane rainforest birds, GIS-based modeling of their habitat distributions, and geographic range information to explore the efficacy of reserve design and habitat protection. This involves understanding the ecological specialization of species that leads to landscape-scale diversity of species assemblages. Information about population variability in space and time, particularly of those endemic to the mountains of Costa Rica and Panama, is used to model the extent to which species' ranges are likely to change in response to projected change in temperature, rainfall, and seasonality. Field data are also used to model statistical power to detect trends in populations, and conditions at forest edges that produce warmer and drier microclimates are used to anticipate larger-scale changes in community composition.

Selected Publications

Pierce, A. R., Bromer, W. R., Rabenold, K. N. 2008. Decline of Cornus florida and forest succession in a Quercus-Carya forest. Plant Ecology. 195. 45-53.

Jankowski, J. E., Rabenold, K. N. 2007. Endemism and local rarity in birds of neotropical montane rainforest. Biological Conservation. 138. 3-4. 453-463.

Pierce, A. R., Parker, G., Rabenold, K. 2006. Forest succession in an oak-hickory dominated stand during a 40-year period at the ross biological reserve, Indiana. Natural Areas Journal. 26. 4. 351-359.

Williams, D. A., Rabenold, K. N. 2005. Male-biased dispersal, female philopatry, and routes to fitness in a social corvid. Journal of Animal Ecology. 74. 1. 150-159.

Hale, A. M., Williams, D. A., Rabenold, K. N. 2003. Territoriality and neighbor assessment in Brown Jays (Cyanocorax morio) in Costa Rica. Auk. 120. 2. 446-456.

Yaber, M. C., Rabenold, K. N. 2002. Effects of sociality on short-distance, female-biased dispersal in tropical wrens. Journal of Animal Ecology. 71. 6. 1042-1055.