Janis Dickinson
Professor Emerita, Natural Resources and the Environment
Janis Dickinson is a Professor Emerita in the Department of Natural Resources (Retired Jan 1, 2018) and was Arthur A. Allen Director of Citizen Science at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology until 2016. Her primary research intersests span the fields of behavioral ecology, evolutionary ecology, and molecular ecology of birds and insects. She studied citizen science as an ecological tool, a model of collective action, and an arena where social learning can take place.
Dickinson`s basic research program has focused on the costs and benefits of delayed dispersal, cooperation, sexual conflict, and reproductive decisions in birds and insects. She has also collaborated on studies of spatial ecology of birds using citizen science data, and has conducted research on how Web-based social networks can support human cooperation within the contexts of public goods and earth-stewardship.
Education
- Ph.D. Cornell University
- B.S. Binghamton University
Recent Research
Citizen science, evolutionary behavioral ecology — birds and insects.
Selected Publications
- Smith, M.G., Ç. Akçay, D. Shizuka, C. A. Stern, and J.L. Dickinson. 2020. Extraterritorial visits in a cooperatively breeding songbird are consistent with multiple functions. Animal Behaviour, 170: Pages 119-132.
- Dickinson, J.L. and R.L. Crain. 2019. An experimental study of learning in an online citizen science project: Insights into study design and waitlist controls. Citizen Science: Theory and Practice. 4(1), p.26. DOI: http://doi.org/10.5334/cstp.218
- Song, H., Schuldt, J. P., McLeod P. L., Crain, R., & Dickinson, J. L. (2018). Group norm violations in an online, environmental, social network: Effects on impression formation and inter-group judgments. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations. 21: 422-437.
- *Smith, M.G., Dickinson, J.L., Rush, A.W., Wade, A.L., and D.-S. Yang. 2017. Western bluebird parents preferentially feed hungrier nestlings in a design that balances location in the nest. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 71: 1-7. [with 3 UC Berkeley undergrads and 1 Cornell undergrad as first author].
- Dickinson, J.L., McLeod, P., Bloomfield, R., and S. Allred. 2016. Which moral foundations predict willingness to make lifestyle changes to avert climate change in the USA? PlosONE doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0163852.
- *Akçay, C., Arnold, J.A., Hambury, K.L., and J.L. Dickinson. 2016. Age discrimination of rival males in western bluebirds. Animal Cognition 19: 999-1006.
- *Milligan, M. and J.L. Dickinson. 2016. Habitat quality and nest box occupancy by five species of oak woodland birds. The Auk: Ornithological Advances 123: 429-438.
- Stern, C.A. and J.L. Dickinson. 2016. Effects of load-lightening and delayed extrapair benefits on the fitness consequences of helping behavior. Behavioral Ecology 127: 1078-1086. doi: 10.1093/beheco/arw018
- Dickinson, J.L., Akcay, C., Ferree, E.D., and C.A. Stern. 2016. A hierarchical analysis of incest avoidance in a cooperative breeder. Behavioral Ecology 27: 1132-1140. doi: 10.1093/beheco/arw020
- Michelucci, P. and J.L. Dickinson. 2016. The power of crowds: Combining the strengths of humans and machines to tackle increasingly hard problems. Science 351: 14-15.
Awards & Honors
- Loye and Alden Miller Award for lifetime achievement in ornithological research, 2018; Ecological Research Award (Japan); Fellow: AAAS, Animal Behavior Society, California Academy of Sciences, American Ornithological Society; Cook Award for changing the climate for women at Cornell University
Courses Taught
- Graduate seminar in evolutionary behavioral ecology
Contact Information
Hastings Reserve, 38601 E. Carmel Valley Road
Carmel Valley, CA 93924
jld84 [at] cornell.edu
Additional Links
Janis in the news
News
A study tracked users of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Habitat Network platform, comparing "citizen science" and "environmental stewardship" labeling in the environmentally focused yard mapping tool.
- Cornell Atkinson
- Lab of Ornithology
- Communication