Rate My Professor Amy Newman

Dr. Newman's research is situated at the intersection of ecology, physiology, and neuroendocrinology, focusing on stress biology and the impacts of early life environments on the development and function of the stress axis in natural populations. Utilizing an integrative approach that merges field and laboratory methods, she examines naturally relevant stressors in wild songbirds and small mammals. Her work explores proximate and ultimate mechanisms, including molecular and neuronal effects, neuroendocrine development, adult neuroplasticity, behavior, and fitness outcomes. Stress and glucocorticoids influence the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, affecting immune function, life history, breeding biology, development, aging, and neurogenesis. A key emphasis is ecological epigenetics, investigating epigenomic links between environment and phenotype. Primary study systems include a long-term marked population of Savannah Sparrows on Kent Island in the Bay of Fundy, assessing multigenerational effects of post-natal stressors on survival, HPA responsiveness, and fitness, and collaborations with the Kluane Red Squirrel Project to study prenatal stress effects on offspring physiology, behavior, and fitness. Select publications include "Multigenerational fitness outcomes of double-brooding: a 30-year study of a migratory songbird" (2025), "Causes and consequences of within-population variation in inter-brood interval of a migratory songbird" (2025), "Corticosterone predicts double-brooding in female savannah sparrows (Passerculus sandwichensis)" (2025), and "Reduced fitness of secondary females in a polygynous species: a 32-yr study of Savannah sparrows" (2024). She received the 2020 University of Guelph Research Excellence Award and the 2020 Weston Family Research Innovation Award for her study on farm practices' effects on wildlife habitat and diversity.