Birds have evolved to fill a diverse set of niches, and because of their manifold adaptations to different habitats, and the relative ease with which they are detected, they are a great taxon to understand the effects of land use, climate, and other factors on the ability of wild species to maintain viable populations.
How do individual bird species select their habitats? Is there a consistent pattern, and how does it vary among species with different functional traits, guilds, and taxonomic groupings?
Ashley Olah is using novel remotely-sensed measures of spatial and temporal variability in temperature and forest phenology, forest phenoclusters, and forest structure to model bird species distributions in Argentina.
Natalia Rogova uses a combination of various satellite data to identify key habitats along Arctic waterfowl migration flyways to help rare species conservation.
Spending conservation dollars wisely is as important as any financial commitment. It is, therefore, critical that the ecosystems and species we intend to protect are where we think they are.
Developing maps to inform species conservation is essential for the future of ecosystem services. We developed the satellite data and indices to make such maps at fine scales.
