Welcome to the lab of richard b. primack at Boston university

Our lab conducts research in conservation biology, with a focus on how climate change affects the timing of seasonal biological events. Our lab's projects include:

• Using Henry David Thoreau's field notes and current observations of leaf-out and flowering in Concord, MA to measure the effects of warming temperatures on plants at iconic Walden Pond

• Conducting experiments on dormant twigs, and making field observations to understand the environmental drivers of spring leaf-out in temperate New England

• Collaborating with an international network of botanic gardens to monitor the timing of leaf-out, leaf senescence, and fruiting

• Using bird banding records to investigate changing migration times at Manomet banding station in Plymouth, MA

• Examining patterns of species loss in Concord, MA and at Acadia National Park, ME

• Investigating patterns of noise pollution in the Boston area

• Exploring behaviors and biases in the scientific publication process

• Documenting the ecological and conservation effects of the COVID lockdown

• Using herbarium specimens to study mismatches in how wildflowers, shrubs, and trees are shifting leaf-out and flowering in response to warmer temperatures

• Partnering with wildlife rehabilitation centers to investigate how climate change and human activities are impacting wildlife