For nearly two decades biologist Lauren Deaner has worked with Florida Scrub jays, contributing to population recovery efforts and translocations. Now, as a doctoral researcher in UCF鈥檚 integrative biology program, she is using that field experience to investigate how genetics, behavior and population dynamics influence the long-term recovery of imperiled species.
Deaner鈥檚 dissertation centers on a first-of-its-kind Florida scrub jay translocation initiative examining genetic rescue, a conservation strategy that introduces individuals from other populations to increase genetic diversity and improve the health and viability of an imperiled population.
鈥淭his project gives us a unique opportunity to understand the effects of a large-scale translocation on population recovery, how mate choice is influenced when birds from different genetic units are brought together and how genetic variation changes over time,鈥� Deaner says.
The project build on regional recovery efforts that began in the late 1990s through mitigation efforts led by the with guidance from the late , a prominent Florida avian biologist. Raoul Boughton, senior manager of ecology and wildlife at the Mosaic Company, leads the current recovery effort, with Deaner and Sahas Barve, program director of avian ecology at Archbold Biological Station, serving as co-principal investigators.
Testing Genetic Rescue at an Unprecedented Scale
Researchers translocated 48 Florida scrub jays to a new recipient site 鈥� enough birds to fill the site to its estimated carrying capacity. Previous translocations typically moved smaller numbers of birds over several years. All 48 birds were hatched in 2025, minimizing age-related competitive advantages.
Six months after the translocation, Deaner has already observed promising signs.
Florida scrub jays typically do not become breeders until they are 2 or 3 years old. Across six decades of monitoring at Archbold Biological Station and two decades of data from the local population, fewer than 0.25% of recorded nesting attempts involved pairs of one-year-old birds.
At the recipient site, however, four of the 10 newly formed pairs of one-year-old birds attempted to nest this year 鈥� a rate of 40%. Researchers had expected approximately half of the groups to include young birds serving as helpers but instead, most translocated birds sought their own breeding positions.
The early breeding activity is significant because genetic rescue ultimately depends on translocated birds establishing themselves, reproducing and passing their genetic variation into the recipient population. Although it is too early to determine the translocation鈥檚 long-term effect, the nesting attempts allow researchers to begin studying whether and how that genetic integration occurs.
Combining Genomics and Field Monitoring
Genomic data allows researchers to examine genetic variation among source populations, while long-term field monitoring provides information about survival, reproduction, territory establishment, dispersal and population growth. The team combines this data using Vortex, a population viability analysis software, to assess how genetic, environmental and demographic factors could affect the species鈥� long-term survival.
Researchers also equipped the birds with RFID tags and established feeding stations where each jay must stand on an antenna to access peanuts. The system allows Deaner to track visits and social feeding behavior, including patterns that may indicate pair formation and help researchers target birds for reproductive monitoring.
Deaner says UCF was the right place to pursue those questions because of the university鈥檚 collaborative and interdisciplinary approach to biology.
鈥淢y dissertation combines conservation genomics, population ecology, behavior, spatial analysis and population modeling and UCF has given me access to researchers with expertise across those fields,鈥� she says.
Deaner conducts her research in UCF Department of Biology Chair and Professor , where she works alongside students studying similar conservation questions.
Building on Nearly Two Decades of Fieldwork
Deaner鈥檚 path to UCF has been shaped by her years working directly with Florida scrub jays.
Between earning her undergraduate degree at the University of Delaware and her master鈥檚 degree at Georgia Southern University, she spent six years conducting early translocations involving the same Florida scrub jay population she studies today.
鈥淐ollecting those data and knowing so many answers lie just beneath the surface of each spreadsheet is what first inspired me to pursue graduate school,鈥� Deaner says.
After earning her master鈥檚 degree, she returned to the Florida scrub jay recovery project, where her work reinforced the importance of genetic recovery to the population鈥檚 long-term persistence. 色花堂, Deaner has been able to bring those experiences together, combining the perspective of a field biologist with the tools of a researcher.
She hopes the research will ultimately help conservationists recover imperiled species more quickly and with fewer resources. In September, Deaner will present preliminary findings at the International Conservation Translocation Conference in Edinburgh, Scotland.
鈥淚t’s not the taxa (group of organisms) that’s important, it’s the questions,鈥� Deaner says. 鈥淎s long as the questions are the ones that trigger your curiosity, you are heading in the right direction.鈥�
