Education

• Ph.D., 1987, University of Missouri-Columbia

Research

• Neotropical migratory birds, landscape and population ecology.

Research Summary

• Thompson is the project leader for the U. S. Forest Service North Central Forest Experiment Station research work unit located at Columbia, Mo., as well as a cooperative faculty member in the School of Natural Resources. He conducts research on population ecology and habitat selection of birds in forest ecosystems and addresses these problems at local, landscape and regional scales for species ranging from neotropical migratory songbirds to resident gamebirds.
• Thompson’s research currently focuses on forest songbirds and the effects of silvicultural practices, effects of forest fragmentation, edge effects and ecological traps, cowbird and predator abundance and behavior, source-sink population structure, and demographics of selected species. This research includes field studies and the use of simulation models.