Daniel Baldassarre

Lab website

Research Findings

Research

Combining field studies of behavior with genomic analyses to understand large-scale patterns of avian diversity.

Specialty areas:

• Ornithology
• Behavioral ecology
• Speciation

Publications

• Baldassarre, D.T., Connors, F.L.*, Faulkner, T.F.*, Hernandez, S.*, Niederhauser, J.M. (2024) Differences in personality traits and behavioral syndromes in urban and rural Northern Cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis). The Wilson Journal of Ornithology 136: 329-337.
• Baldassarre, D.T., Davis, K.M.*, Shealer, D.S. (2024) Subtle, but perceptible, sexual dichromatism and disassortative mating based on plumage reflectance in Black Terns (Chlidonias niger). Waterbirds 47: 1-9.
• Devries, M. S., Anderson, R. C., Baldassarre, D. T., Jawor, J. M., and Slevin, M. C. 2022. Geographic variation in morphology of Northern Cardinals: possible application of Bergmann’s rule? Journal of Field Ornithology: 93: 9.
• Rowe, M., van Oort, A., Brouwer, L., Lifjeld, J. T., Webster, M. S., Welklin J. F., and Baldassarre, D. T. 2022. Sperm numbers as a paternity guard in a wild bird. Cells 11: 231.
• Tobias, J. A., ... Baldassarre, D. T. et al. (115 authors) 2022. AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581-597.
• Boersma, J., Barron, D. G., Baldassarre, D. T., Webster, M. S., and Schwabl, H. 2021. Wildfire affects expression of male sexual plumage in a tropical songbird. Journal of Avian Biology 52: e02757.
• Baldassarre, D.T., Campagna, L., Thomassen, H. A., Atwell, J. W., Chu, M., Crampton, L.H., Fleischer, R. C., and Riehl, C. 2019. GPS tracking and population genomics suggest itinerant breeding across drastically different habitats in the Phainopepla. The Auk 136: ukz058. 
• Song, S. J., Sanders, J. G., Baldassarre, D.T., Chaves, J. A., Johnson, N. S., Piaggio, A. J., Stuckey, M. J., Nováková, E., Metcalf, J. L., Chomel. B. B., Aguilar-Setién, A., Knight, R., and McKenzie, V. J. 2019. Is there convergence of gut microbes in blood-feeding vertebrates? Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 374.
• Enbody, E. D., Boersma, J., Jones, J. A., Chatfield, M. W. H., Ketaloya, S., Nason, D., Baldassarre, D.T., Hazlehurst, J., Gowen, O., Schwabl, H., and Karubian, J. 2019. Social organisation and breeding biology of the White-shouldered Fairywren (Malurus alboscapulatus). Emu 119: 274-285.
• Michel, A. J., Ward, L. M., Goffredi, S. K., Dawson, K. S., Baldassarre, D.T., Brenner, A., Gotanda, K. M., McCormack, J. E., Mullin, S., O’Neill, A., Tender, G., Uy, J. A. C., Yu, K., Orphan, V. J., and Chaves, J. A. 2018. The gut of the finch: uniqueness of the gut microbiome of the Galápagos Vampire Finch. Microbiome 6: 167.
• Hauber, M. E., Dainson, M., Baldassarre, D. T., Hossain, M., Holford, M., and Riehl, C. 2018. The perceptual and chemical basis of egg discrimination in communally nesting Greater Anis (Crotophaga major). Journal of Avian Biology, 49(8).
• Brouwer, L., van de Pol, M., Hidalgo Aranzamendi, N., Bain, G., Baldassarre, D. T., Brooker, L. C., Brooker, M. G., Colombelli-Négrel, D., Enbody, E., Gielow, K., Hall, M. L., Johnson, A. E., Karubian, J.,  Kingma, S. J., Kleindorfer, S., Louter, M., Mulder, R. A., Peters, A., Pruett-Jones, S., Tarvin, K. A., Thrasher, D. J., Varian-Ramos, C. W., Webster, M. S., and Cockburn, A. 2017. Multiple hypotheses explain variation in extra-pair paternity at different levels in a single bird family. Molecular Ecology 26: 6717-6729.
• Baldassarre, D. T., Greig, E. I., and Webster, M. S. 2016. The couple that sings together stays together: duetting, aggression and extra-pair paternity in a promiscuous bird species. Biology Letters 12: 20151025.
• Potticary, A. L., Dowling, J. L., Barron, D. G., Baldassarre, D. T., and Webster, M. S. 2016. Subtle benefits of cooperation to breeding males of the Red-backed Fairywren. The Auk 133: 286-297.
• Toews, D. P. L, Campagna, L., Taylor, S. A., Balakrishnan, C. N., Baldassarre, D. T., Deane-Coe, P. E., Harvey, M. G., Hooper, D. M., Irwin, D. E., Judy, C. D., Mason, N. A., McCormack, J. E., McCracken, K. G., Oliveros, C. H., Safran, R. J., Scordato, E. S. C., Stryjewski, K. F., Tigano, A., Uy, J. A. C., and Winger, B. 2016. Genomic approaches to understanding the early stages of population divergence and speciation in birds. The Auk 133: 13-30.
• Greig, E. I., Baldassarre, D. T., and Webster, M. S. 2015. Differential rates of phenotypic introgression are associated with male behavioral responses to multiple signals. Evolution. 69: 2602-2612.
• Schwabl, H., Dowling, J. L., Baldassarre, D. T., Gahr, M., Lindsay, W. R., and Webster, M. S. 2015. Variation in song system anatomy and androgen levels does not correspond to song characteristics in a tropical songbird. Animal Behaviour 104: 39-50.
• Baldassarre, D. T., White, T. A., Karubian, J. and Webster, M. S. 2014. Genomic and morphological analysis of a semipermeable avian hybrid zone suggests asymmetrical introgression of a sexual signal. Evolution 68: 2644-2657.
• Baldassarre, D. T. and Webster, M. S. 2013. Experimental evidence that extra-pair mating drives asymmetrical introgression of a sexual trait. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 280. 
• Baldassarre, D. T., Thomassen, H. A., Karubian, J., and Webster, M. S. 2013. The role of ecological variation in driving divergence of sexual and non-sexual traits in the red-backed fairy-wren (Malurus melanocephalus). BMC Evolutionary Biology 13: 75.
• Hurtado-Gonzales, J. L., Baldassarre, D. T., and Uy, J. A. C. 2010. Interaction between female mating preferences and predation may explain the maintenance of rare males in the pentamorphic fish Poecilia parae. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 23: 1293-1301.

Education

• Ph.D., Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University
• BS, Biology, Syracuse University