Laurel Symes

Expertise

Bioacoustics • Ecology • Evolution

As the Assistant Director of the K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics, I conduct research in North and South American ecosystems, coordinate education and engagement programs, and contribute to the Cornell Lab’s engineering efforts. I am particularly interested in studying communities using acoustics—understanding the evolution of animal signals and how we can use computer algorithms to detect animal signals to monitor and study populations.

To address these questions, I study animals including crickets, katydids, frogs, bats, and birds. My current research focuses on modeling phenological patterns in bird activity to understand when birds arrive and begin to sing; and how the singing activity of one individual influences the singing patterns of other individuals and species across a landscape.

To quantify singing activity, I use automated recording and machine-learning approaches to find and identify bird calls from a network of recorders in the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Sapsucker Woods and in the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in New Hampshire.

Education

Ph.D., Biology, Dartmouth College
B.S., Biology, Denison University

Outside the Lab

I received my tree climbing certification through Cornell and now climb trees in Panama as part of my research. This does not eliminate my dislike of heights.

Recent Publications