Alec Luro

Alec Luro

Research Data Analyst II

About

I am a data analyst and researcher. My past work focused on avian visual perception, offspring recognition in hosts of avian brood parasites, mate recognition and choice in American robins (Turdus migratorius), and the evolution of plumage sexual dichromatism in Turdus thrushes. This work involved extensive use of spectroscopy, modeling of avian vision, and using a variety of statistical approaches to answer why animals look and behave the way they do.

Interests

  • Statistical Modeling
  • Data Visualization
  • Conservation
  • Ornithology

Education

  • PhD Biology, 2021

    University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  • MA Animal Behavior and Conservation, 2016

    Hunter College

  • BSc Ecology, Evolution & Behavior, 2013

    University of New Hampshire

Skills

R

Statistics

Spectroscopy

Visual Modeling

Molecular Biology

Teaching

Research Experience

 
 
 
 
 

PhD Biology

Hauber Lab, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Aug 2016 – Dec 2021 Urbana, Illinois
Thesis Title: Color and Vision in Birds
 
 
 
 
 

MA Animal Behavior & Conservation

Hunter College

Aug 2014 – May 2016 New York, NY
Thesis Title: Investigating the nest sanitation hypothesis in a rejecter species: is sanitation a proximate link, pre-adaptation, or by-product of egg ejection?
 
 
 
 
 

Research Technician

University of Chicago

Feb 2014 – May 2014 Cayo Santiago, Puerto Rico
Data Collection: Observed and recorded behavior of free-ranging rhesus macaques
 
 
 
 
 

Research Technician

University of New Hampshire

May 2012 – Aug 2012 New Hampshire
Survey and collection of leafhoppers (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) at farmlands around New Hampshire. Funded by NH Hatch Project-542

Projects

Campus Bird Window Strike Survey

Publications

Alec B. Luro, Esteban Fernández-Juricic, Patrice Baumhardt, Mark E. Hauber (2020). Visual acuity and egg spatial chromatic contrast predict egg rejection behavior of American robins. J Exp Biol.

Preprint DOI

C. Scott Clem, Taylor M. Sparbanie, Alec B. Luro, Alexandra N. Harmon-Threatt (2020). Can anthophilous hover flies (Diptera: Syrphidae) discriminate neonicotinoid insecticides in sucrose solution?. PLoS ONE.

PDF DOI

Alec B. Luro, Mark E. Hauber (2020). The ecological context and fitness impact of categorical perception: a comment on Green et al.. Beh Eco.

PDF DOI

Alec B. Luro, Mark E. Hauber (2020). Avian diet and foraging ecology constrain foreign egg recognition and rejection. Avian Biol Res.

Preprint PDF DOI

Mark E. Hauber, M. Dainson, Alec B. Luro, A.A. Louder, D. Hanley (2019). When are egg-rejection cues perceived? A test using thermochromic eggs in an avian brood parasite host. Anim Cogn.

PDF DOI

Mark E. Hauber, A. Bond, A.L. Kouwenberg, G.J. Robertson, E.S. Hansen, M. Holford, M. Dainson, Alec B. Luro, J. Dale (2019). The chemical basis of a signal of individual identity: shell pigment concentrations track the unique appearance of Common Murre eggs.. J R Soc Interface.

PDF DOI

Mark E. Hauber, Alec Luro, C.J. McCarty, K. Barateli, P.Cassey, E.S. Hansen, J. Dale (2019). Interannual repeatability of eggshell phenotype in individual female Common Murres (Uria aalge). Can J Zool.

PDF DOI

Alec B. Luro, B. Igic, R. Croston, A.V. Lopez, M.D. Shawkey, Mark E. Hauber (2018). Which egg features predict egg rejection responses in American robins? Replicating Rothstein’s (1982) study. Ecology and Evolution.

PDF DOI

Alec B. Luro, Mark E. Hauber (2017). A test of the nest sanitation hypothesis for the evolution of foreign egg rejection in an avian brood parasite rejecter host species. The Science of Nature.

PDF DOI

Contact