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Samantha Duhe Jones – new PhD student

A person is standing outside by the sea. Photo.

Hello all!

I’m Samantha, a new PhD student with Andreas Nord. My project will investigate the evolvability of heat tolerance in endotherms, and whether and how phenotypic plasticity may affect that evolvability. To that end, I will be running artificial selection and crossbreeding experiments with Japanese quail.

I earned my Bachelor of Science in Biology at Messiah University in the US, which was also where my longstanding love of birds crystallized into scientific interest. I launched into fieldwork collecting data on avian diversity and abundance across the North American great plains, a habitat where species are in especially steep decline. How will birds in all their magnificent diversity fare in a warming, human-impacted world? What can we do to help them thrive?

To answer my questions, I knew I needed to get into research, and that was why I set my sights on Lund University for a Master’s in Animal Ecology. This degree helped me cultivate skills in statistics and R, experimental design and evolutionary thinking. My thesis involved behavioral assays in Passer sparrows to explore how novel behavioral trait values can arise in a hybrid system. I am thrilled now for the opportunity to continue my education in the fantastic research environment of Lund University. I look forward to learning more about the physiology of birds and contributing to the advancement of our knowledge of the evolutionary constraints which may shape their future success.

While I may have birds on my mind a lot (both for research and recreation), I’m also a classically-trained musician with a couple of degrees in horn performance. My other hobbies include hiking, reading, novel-writing, and board games—especially Wingspan! Maybe you’ll join me for a game sometime?

juni 24, 2025

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