Institution: Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute
Department: Migratory Bird Center
National Zoological Park MRC 5503
Washington, DC 200013-7012
Hubbard Brook Role: Investigator
Phone: (202) 633-4213
Email: silletts@si.edu
ORCID: 0000-0002-7486-0076
Website: http://nationalzoo.si.edu/scbi/migratorybirds/research/
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Research Interests

In collaboration with Richard Holmes (Dartmouth College), Nicholas Rodenhouse (Wellesley College), Allan Strong (Univ. of Vermont), and Michael Webster (Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology), I am studying how weather, in combination with habitat structure and other biotic factors, influences the behavior and demography of forest birds. Such information is key to assessing the potential local effects of climate change on migratory bird populations, and ultimately to predicting how these populations and the biological communities of which they are a part will respond to future environmental change.

Hubbard Brook Publications by this Author

Kaiser, S. A., Grabenstein, K. C., Sillett, T. S., & Webster, M. S. (2023). No evidence of sex ratio manipulation by black-throated blue warblers in response to food availability. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 77(11), 124. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-023-03401-y
Lewis, W. B., Cooper, R. J., Hallworth, M. T., Brunner, A. R., & Sillett, T. S. (2023). Light-level geolocation reveals moderate levels of migratory connectivity for declining and stable populations of Black-throated Blue Warblers (<em>Setophaga caerulescens</em>). Avian Conservation and Ecology, 18(2). https://doi.org/10.5751/ACE-02526-180212
Doser, J. W., Leuenberger, W., Sillett, T. S., Hallworth, M. T., & Zipkin, E. F. (2022). Integrated community occupancy models: A framework to assess occurrence and biodiversity dynamics using multiple data sources. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 13(4), 919–932. https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.13811
Germain, R. R., Hallworth, M. T., Kaiser, S. A., Sillett, T. S., & Webster, M. S. (2020). Variance in within-pair reproductive success drives the opportunity for sexual selection annually and over the lifetimes of males in a multi-brooded songbird. BioRxiv, 2020.03.03.974790. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.03.03.974790
Van Tatenhove, A., Filiberti, E., Sillett, T. S., Rodenhouse, N., & Hallworth, M. (2019). Climate-Related Distribution Shifts of Migratory Songbirds and Sciurids in the White Mountain National Forest. Forests, 10(2), 84. https://doi.org/10.3390/f10020084
Smith, M. G., Kaiser, S. A., Sillett, T. S., & Webster, M. S. (2018). Variation in nest characteristics and brooding patterns of female Black-throated Blue Warblers is associated with thermal cues. The Auk, 135(3), 733–747. https://doi.org/10.1642/AUK-17-195.1
Cramer, E. R. A., Kaiser, S. A., Webster, M. S., Sillett, T. s., & Ryder, T. b. (2017). Characterizing selection in black-throated blue warblers using a sexual network approach. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 30(12), 2177–2188. https://doi.org/10.1111/jeb.13183
Kaiser, S. A., Taylor, S. A., Chen, N., Sillett, T. S., Bondra, E. R., & Webster, M. S. (2017). A comparative assessment of SNP and microsatellite markers for assigning parentage in a socially monogamous bird. Molecular Ecology Resources, 17(2), 183–193. https://doi.org/10.1111/1755-0998.12589
Kaiser, S. A., Risk, B. B., Sillett, T. S., & Webster, M. S. (2017). Ecological and Social Factors Constrain Spatial and Temporal Opportunities for Mating in a Migratory Songbird. The American Naturalist, 189(3), 283–296. https://doi.org/10.1086/690203
Townsend, A. K., Cooch, E. G., Sillett, T. S., Rodenhouse, N. L., Holmes, R. T., & Webster, M. S. (2016). The interacting effects of food, spring temperature, and global climate cycles on population dynamics of a migratory songbird. Global Change Biology, 22(2), 544–555. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.13053
Marra, P. P., Studds, C. E., Wilson, S., Sillett, T. S., Sherry, T. W., & Holmes, R. T. (2015). Non-breeding season habitat quality mediates the strength of density-dependence for a migratory bird. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 282(1811), 20150624. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2015.0624
Lany, N. K., Ayres, M. P., Stange, E. E., Sillett, T. S., Rodenhouse, N. L., & Holmes, R. T. (2015). Breeding timed to maximize reproductive success for a migratory songbird: the importance of phenological asynchrony. Oikos, n/a-n/a. https://doi.org/10.1111/oik.02412
Kaiser, S. A., Sillett, T. S., Risk, B. B., & Webster, M. S. (2015). Experimental food supplementation reveals habitat-dependent male reproductive investment in a migratory bird. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 282(1803), 20142523. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.2523
Hostetler, J. A., Sillett, T. S., & Marra, P. P. (2015). Full-annual-cycle population models for migratory birds. The Auk, 132(2), 433–449. https://doi.org/10.1642/AUK-14-211.1
Falster, D. S., Duursma, R. A., Ishihara, M. I., Barneche, D. R., FitzJohn, R. G., Vårhammar, A., Aiba, M., Ando, M., Anten, N., Aspinwall, M. J., Baltzer, J. L., Baraloto, C., Battaglia, M., Battles, J. J., Bond-Lamberty, B., van Breugel, M., Camac, J., Claveau, Y., Coll, L., … York, R. A. (2015). BAAD: a Biomass And Allometry Database for woody plants: Ecological Archives E096-128. Ecology, 96(5), 1445–1445. https://doi.org/10.1890/14-1889.1
Kaiser, S. A., Sillett, T. S., & Webster, M. S. (2014). Phenotypic plasticity in hormonal and behavioural responses to changes in resource conditions in a migratory songbird. Animal Behaviour, 96, 19–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2014.07.004
Zipkin, E. F., Sillett, T. S., Grant, E. H. C., Chandler, R. B., & Royle, J. A. (2014). Inferences about population dynamics from count data using multistate models: a comparison to capture–recapture approaches. Ecology and Evolution, 4(4), 417–426. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.942
Cline, M. H., Strong, A. M., Sillett, T. S., Rodenhouse, N. L., & Holmes, R. T. (2013). Correlates and Consequences of Breeding Dispersal in a Migratory Songbird. The Auk, 130(4), 742–752. https://doi.org/10.1525/auk.2013.12244
Townsend, A. K., Sillett, T. S., Lany, N. K., Kaiser, S. A., Rodenhouse, N. L., Webster, M. S., & Holmes, R. T. (2013). Warm Springs, Early Lay Dates, and Double Brooding in a North American Migratory Songbird, the Black-Throated Blue Warbler. PLoS ONE, 8(4), e59467. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0059467
Hallworth, M. T., Studds, C. E., Scott Sillett, T., & Marra, P. P. (2013). Do Archival Light-Level Geolocators and Stable Hydrogen Isotopes Provide Comparable Estimates of Breeding-Ground Origin? The Auk, 130(2), 273–282. https://doi.org/10.1525/auk.2013.13037
Schwenk, W. S., Strong, A. M., & Sillett, T. S. (2010). Effects of bird predation on arthropod abundance and tree growth across an elevational gradient. Journal of Avian Biology, 41(4), 367–377. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-048X.2009.04963.x
Rodenhouse, N. L., Matthews, S. N., McFarland, K. P., Lambert, J. D., Iverson, L. R., Prasad, A., Sillett, T. S., & Holmes, R. T. (2008). Potential Effects of Climate Change on Birds of the Northeast. Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, 13, 517–540.
Betts, M. G., Rodenhouse, N. L., Sillett, T. S., Doran, P. J., & Holmes, R. T. (2008). Dynamic occupancy models reveal within-breeding season movement up a habitat quality gradient by a migrant songbird. Ecography, 31, 592–600.
Dobbs, R. C., Sillett, T. S., Rodenhouse, N. L., & Holmes, R. T. (2007). Population density affects foraging behavior of male Black-throated Blue Warblers during the breeding season. J. Field Ornithology, 78, 133–139.
Rodenhouse, N. L., Sillett, T. S., & Holmes, R. T. (2006). Multiple interacting anthropogenic factors create ecological traps in space and time. J. Ornithology, 147(5), 24.
Rodenhouse, N. L., Sillett, T. S., & Holmes, R. T. (2006). Effects of weather on a nearctic-neotropical migrant songbird: Implications for climate change. J. Ornithology, 147(5), 238.
Rodenhouse, N. L., Holmes, R. T., & Sillett, T. S. (2006). Contribution of site-dependence to regulation of population size: Evidence and consequences for biological monitoring of populations. Acta Zoologica Sinica, 52, 457–464.
Sillett, T. S., Rodenhouse, N. L., & Holmes, R. T. (2005). The ethics of lethal methods. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 3, 241–242.
Sillett, T. S., & Holmes, R. T. (2005). Long-term demographic trends, limiting factors, and the strength of density dependence in a breeding population of a migratory songbird. In R. Greenberg & P. P. Marra (Eds.), Birds of two worlds: Advances in the ecology and evolution of temperate-tropical migration systems (HBR.05-36; pp. 426–436). Johns Hopkins University Press.
Holmes, R. T., Rodenhouse, N. L., & Sillett, T. S. (2005). Black-throated Blue Warbler (Dendroica caerulescens). In A. Pool (Ed.), The Birds of North America Online. Thaca: Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online database: http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/BNA/account/Black-throated_Blue_Warbler (HBR.05-15).
Sillett, S. T., Rodenhouse, N. L., & Holmes, R. T. (2004). Experimentally reducing neighbor density affects reproduction and behavior of a migratory songbird. Ecology 85(9):2467-2477 (HBR.04-30).
Sillett, T. S., & Holmes, R. T. (2002). Variation in survivorship of a migratory songbird throughout its annual cycle. Journal of Animal Ecology, 71, 296–308.
Joyce, E. M., Sillett, T. S., & Holmes, R. T. (2001). An inexpensive method for quantifying incubation patterns of open-cup nesting birds, with data for Black-throated Blue Warblers. J. Field Ornithol., 72(3), 369–379.
Sillett, T. S. (2000). Long-term demographic trends, population limitation, and the regulation of abundance in a migratory songbird (HBR.00-65) [PhD Thesis]. Dartmouth College.
Sillett, T. S., Holmes, R. T., & Sherry, T. W. (2000). Impacts of a global climate cycle on population dynamics of a migratory songbird. Science, 288, 2040–2042.
Sillett, T. S., & Holmes, R. T. (1996). Density dependence versus site dependence in the regulation of a migratory songbird population. Suppl. Bull. Ecol Soc. Amer., 77(3), 408.