Michael T. Hallworth

Michael T. Hallworth, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Fellow

B.S. and M.S., Plymouth State University; Ph.D., George Mason University

Michael Hallworth is an ecologist who takes a full annual cycle approach toward understanding the interplay between the environment and population demography. To do this, he integrates movement across multiple spatial scale—from fine scale habitat selection of individuals to intercontinental migrations of populations. Hallworth has three overarching goals: to reveal the mechanisms that drive behavior, life-history and demographics of wildlife populations; to identify where migratory individuals and populations are throughout the year to better inform conservation; and to determine when and where wildlife populations are limited.

For his postdoctoral research at SMBC, Hallworth is focusing on how reproductive effort allocated during the breeding season influences black-throated blue warbler survival, and how these costs are mediated by the environment. In addition, in collaboration with Peter Marra and the Migratory Connectivity Project team, Hallworth is quantifying the strength of migratory connectivity in Connecticut warblers across their range.

Hallworth received a B.S. in biology in 2004, a master's in biology in 2007, and a Ph.D. in environmental science and public policy in 2014. He first joined the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center in 2008, as a Ph.D. student working under the direction of Peter Marra.

Recent Publications:

M. T Hallworth, T. S. Sillett, S. L. Van Wilgenburg, K. A. Hobson, and P. P. Marra. 2015. Migratory connectivity of a Neotropical migratory songbird revealed by archival light‐level geolocators. Ecological Applications, 25 (2).

M. T. Hallworth and P. P. Marra. 2015. Miniaturized GPS tags identify non-breeding territories of a small breeding migratory songbird. Scientific reports, 5 11069.

M. T Hallworth, C. E. Studds, T. S, Sillett, P. P. Marra. 2013. Do archival light-level geolocators and stable hydrogen isotopes provide comparable estimates of breeding-ground origin? The Auk, 130 (2).