My research on Global Change Ecology focuses on effects of changing rainfall on biodiversity, especially in hyper-diverse tropical systems. Rainfall remains one of the least understood aspects of human-induced climate change, and I address questions at different spatiotemporal scales from physiology to functional ecology of populations, communities, and food webs. My interest in how whole ecosystems respond to climate change has led me to study interacting taxonomic groups from birds to insects to plants, as well as climatology. Current questions address the role of rainfall seasonality in structuring reproductive phenology, migration, and population dynamics of tropical resident and migratory birds. I am also interested in the formation of climatic refugia in topographical complex montane regions including how forests regulate microclimate and recycle rainfall under differing climactic and natural disturbance regimes. Current student projects include work on avian stress physiology and malaria as well as developing guides to age Andean birds and identify Andean plants. I integrate fundamental questions with applied science to inform management and conservation including describing natural history of poorly known species. To address ecological questions at scale, I build global collaborations and long-term multi-taxa datasets with strong field and analytical components. I also work with rural tropical communities, to support sustainable development and forest conservation.
Peruvian cloud forest (PI): https://www.avesmontanos.org/
Chocó rainforest (collaborator): https://www.reassembly.de/
Scientific publications (peer-reviewed)
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=6to2aCoAAAAJ&hl=en
ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Felicity_Newell/research
Popular media
Yale Climate Connections
Cosmos (Australian science magazine)
Birding Magazine (American Birding Association)
