Leah Crenshaw

I am passionate about working landscapes as win-win conservation scenarios wherein natural resources can be leveraged to support both human livelihood and biodiversity conservation. In the face of worldwide biodiversity, food security, and climate crises, I think that it is critical to identify working landscape management techniques that meet economic, social, and environmental needs. My dissertation research specifically focuses on identifying the effects of coffee agriculture on tropical bird communities in Panama. Working with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, I study how sustainable agroforestry growing practices influence the physical condition and flocking behaviors of birds. You can check out the results of my 2024 pilot field season at https://leahcc.github.io/AOS-2024.

In my free time, I also volunteer banding songbirds with the Braddock Bay Bird Observatory and co-leading window collision data collection efforts with the Cornell Bird Friendly Campus Initiative.