Chad Seewagen, Ph.D.Chad Seewagen

Research Scientist – Adjunct

Department of Natural Resources & the Environment

Phone:  203-546-7789
Email: cseewagen@greathollow.org

Education

Professional Experience

Research Interests

Publications

Education

2010 PhD University of Western Ontario; Biology
2006 MA Columbia University; Conservation Biology
2002 BS University of Massachusetts-Amherst; Wildlife and Fisheries Conservation

Professional Experience

2016 - Present Executive Director, Great Hollow Nature Preserve & Ecological Research Center
2011 - 2016 Senior Wildlife Biologist and Technical Director, AKRF INC. Environmental, Engineering & Planning Consultants
2002 - 2011 Research Scientist and Intern Program Coordinator, Bronx Zoo Department of Ornithology, Wildlife Conservation Society

Research Interests

  • Physiological ecology of bird migration
  • Stopover biology of migratory songbirds
  • Responses of migratory songbirds to land use change
  • Impacts of mercury pollution on birds
  • Effects on non-native invasive plants on wildlife diversity and habitat quality
  • Effects of light pollution on bats

Select Publications

  • Seewagen, C.L., C.R. Elowe, A.R. Gerson, D.J.E. Groom, Y. Ma, M. Yildirim, and C.G. Guglielmo. 2022. Short-term mercury exposure disrupts muscular and hepatic lipid metabolism in a migrant songbird. Scientific Reports 12:11470.
  • Seewagen, C.L. and A.M. Adams. 2021. Turning to the dark side: LED light at night alters the activity and species composition of a foraging bat assemblage in the northeastern United States. Ecology and Evolution 11:5635-5645.
  • Seewagen, C.L. 2020. The threat of global mercury pollution to bird migration: potential mechanisms and current evidence. Ecotoxicology 29:1254-1267.
  • Seewagen, C.L., E.J. Slayton, and S. Smith Pagano. 2020. Physiological indicators of habitat quality for a migratory songbird breeding in a forest invaded by non-native Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii). Conservation Physiology 8:coaa037
  • Clark, R. and C.L. Seewagen. 2019. Invasive Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii) is associated with simplified branch-dwelling and leaf-litter arthropod communities in a New York forest. Environmental Entomology 48:1071-1078.
  • Gerson, A.R., D.A. Cristol, and C.L. Seewagen. 2019. Environmentally relevant methylmercury exposure reduces the metabolic scope of a model songbird. Environmental Pollution 246:790-796.
  • Seewagen, C.L., Y. Ma, Y.E. Morbey, and C.G. Guglielmo. 2019. Stopover departure behavior and flight orientation of spring-migrant yellow-rumped warblers (Setophaga coronata) experimentally exposed to methylmercury. Journal of Ornithology. DOI:10.1007/s10336-019-01641-2.
  • Seewagen, C.L. and M. Newhouse. 2018. Mass changes and energetic condition of grassland and shrubland songbirds during autumn stopovers at a reclaimed landfill in the New Jersey Meadowlands. Wilson Journal of Ornithology 130:377-384.
  • Seewagen, C.L., D.A. Cristol, and A.R. Gerson. 2017. Mobilization of mercury from lean tissues during simulated migratory fasting in a model songbird. Scientific Reports 6:25762.
  • Seewagen, C.L., M.J. Glennon, and S.B. Smith. 2015. Does exurban housing development impact the physiological condition of forest-breeding songbirds? A case study in the largest protected area in the contiguous United States. Physiological & Biochemical Zoology 88:416-424.
  • Seewagen, C.L., C.G. Guglielmo, and Y.E. Morbey. 2013. Stopover refueling rate underlies protandry and seasonal variation in migration timing of songbirds. Behavioral Ecology 24:634-642.
  • Seewagen, C.L. 2013. Blood mercury levels and the stopover refueling performance of a long-distance migratory songbird. Canadian Journal of Zoology 91:41-45.
  • Seewagen, C.L., E.J. Slayton, C.D. Sheppard, and C.G. Guglielmo. 2011. Plasma metabolites and mass changes of migratory landbirds indicate adequate stopover refueling in a heavily urbanized landscape. Condor 113:284-297.
  • Seewagen, C.L. and C.G. Guglielmo. 2011. Quantitative magnetic resonance analysis and a morphometric predictive model reveal lean body mass changes in migrating Nearctic- Neotropical passerines. Journal of Comparative Physiology B 181:413-421.
  • Seewagen, C.L., E.J. Slayton, and C.G. Guglielmo. 2010. Passerine migrant stopover duration and spatial behaviour at an urban stopover site. Acta Oecologica 36:484-492.
  • Seewagen, C.L. and E.J. Slayton. 2008. Mass changes of migratory landbirds during stopovers in a New York City park. Wilson Journal of Ornithology 120:296-303.