Christina Marie Kennedy

Current Affiliation:

Senior Scientist
The Nature Conservancy
2424 Spruce Street
Boulder, CO

Email:

Research

Dr. Kennedy is interested in how patterns of land conversion affect species diversity and persistence, particularly in the tropics. Her Ph.D. research focused on the role of intervening land cover surrounding forest fragments (i.e., matrix) on the isolation and degradation of bird communities in Jamaica, and the interaction of life history traits with species persistence.

She worked in central Jamaica in four landscape types that vary systematically in both resource availability and structural connectivity for birds – within forests fragmented by agricultural pastureland, bauxite mining, and residential development as well as intact continuous forest. Through population surveys and experimental translocations of resident and migratory birds, she tested whether the matrix within fragmented landscapes affects bird diversity and abundance patterns; and if so, whether differences are predominately driven by varying resources or differential connectivity at the landscape-scale. Understanding the mechanism(s) behind species response to fragmented systems, in relation to life history traits, will help to improve the potential to support native biodiversity amidst land cover change in the tropics. Please see the publications below for more information and the results of this work.

Dr. Kennedy has also been involved in NSF-funded, collaborative research to determine the effects of land cover composition and configuration on pollinator communities across diverse agricultural regions to help ensure continued delivery of pollination services. This research is synthesizing and modeling pollinator and land cover data from across >20 countries and >15 crops and being spearheaded by scientists from the University of Maryland, Lincoln Park Zoo, University of California, Berkeley, University of California, Davis, Rutgers University, and World Wildlife Fund.

Publications *

Kennedy, C., E. Grant, M. Neel, W. Fagan, and P. Marra. 2011. Landscape matrix mediates occupancy dynamics of Neotropical avian insectivores. Ecological Applications 21(5): 1837-1850. abstract/
Kennedy, C., P. Marra, W. Fagan, and M. Neel. 2010. Landscape matrix and species traits mediate responses of Neotropical resident birds to forest fragmentation in Jamaica. Ecological Monographs 80:651-669. abstract/
Kennedy, C., and P. Marra. 2010. Matrix mediates avian movements in tropical forested landscapes: Inference from experimental translocations. Biological Conservation 143: 2136-2145. abstract/
Fagan, W., C. Kennedy, and P. Unmack. 2005. Quantifying rarity, losses, and risks for lower Colorado River Basin fishes: Implications for conservation listing. Conservation Biology 19:1872–1882.abstract/
Fagan, W., C. Aumann, C. Kennedy, and P. Unmack. 2005. Rarity, fragmentation, and the scale-dependence of extinction risk in desert fishes. Ecology 86:34–41.abstract/