Birds
Birds
Featured News
NCASC Research Identifies Future Research Topics to Improve Land Acquisition Decisions for Migratory Bird Conservation
NCASC Research Identifies Future Research Topics to Improve Land Acquisition Decisions for Migratory Bird Conservation
Featured Project
Informing Climate-Adaptive Forest Management for Breeding Bird Habitat in the Southern Appalachians
Informing Climate-Adaptive Forest Management for Breeding Bird Habitat in the Southern Appalachians
Birds play a crucial role in many ecosystems and their conservation depends on a clear understanding of how environmental factors affect their survival and reproduction. CASC scientists are working to understand the connection between environmental factors and climate variables to help birds adapt to a changing climate. Explore our science on birds below.
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A Prioritization Plan for Coastal Wetland Restoration on Moloka‘i
Moloka‘i has great wetland restoration potential in Hawaiʻi, but most remaining sites are highly degraded. The future of several endangered waterbirds and insects relies on restoring coastal wetland habitat that is resilient under sea-level rise and coastal flooding. Currently, managers lack background data on Molokaʻi to prioritize sites for restoration. In this project, researchers...
Accounting for Ecological Impacts of Climate Change in State Wildlife Action Plans: A comparison of Model-Based and Index-Based Vulnerability Assessments
State wildlife agencies and their partners use State Wildlife Action Plans to coordinate and guide management activities aimed at protecting species. To do so, they must identify factors putting species and their habitats at risk. Current and future climate change is one such factor. To succeed, management actions need to account for impacts of climate change on species today and in the...
Assessing the Climate Vulnerability of Wild Turkeys Across the Southeastern U.S.
Wild turkey is a culturally and economically important game species that has shown dramatic population declines throughout much of the southeastern U.S. A possible explanation for these declines is that the timing of nesting has shifted to earlier in the year while hunting seasons have remained the same. Wild turkeys are the only gamebird in the contiguous United States that are hunted...
Developing an Indicator of Species Vulnerability to Climate Change to Support a Consistent Nationwide Approach to Assessing Vulnerability
Scientists and resource managers are in need of a better understanding of the status and trends of wildlife species and the vulnerability of these species to climate change. Effective prioritization of species and habitats for climate adaptation, endangered species management, and recreational and cultural hunting and fishing will require development, testing, and application of...
Field Surveys for Vanishing Species: Closing Data Gaps to Understand Climate Change Impacts on Hawaiian Land Snails and Preserve Biodiversity
The Hawaiian Islands have an extremely diverse number of plants and animals found nowhere else on Earth. Changes brought about by the arrival of humans and the introduction of non-native predators, weeds, and diseases has led to the extinction of hundreds of Hawaiian species – far more than any other U.S. state. To help the State of Hawaiʻi prevent additional species from becoming...
Phase One: Southeast Regional Invasive Species and Climate Change Management Network (SE RISCC)
Climate change is expected to worsen the harmful effects of invasive species on native wildlife. This presents a growing conservation challenge for invasive species managers in the southeastern United States where thousands of invasive species exist. While many of these invasive species currently have relatively small ranges in the southeastern U.S., climate change may allow them to...
Predicting and Mitigating the Threat of Avian Disease to Forest Birds at Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge
Hawaiʻi’s native forest birds are known worldwide for their diversity and beauty. Unfortunately, many species are heading towards extinction because of bird malaria spread by mosquitoes introduced over a century ago. Remaining populations of these highly threatened forest birds tend to be at high elevations near the tree line on mountains, where cooler temperatures limit mosquitoes and...
Public Acceptance and Preferences for Climate Change Adaptation in the Midwest
Climate change has the potential to change the kinds and numbers of fish and wildlife that are available for recreationists such as hunters, anglers, and birdwatchers. While we have some knowledge about what changes might look like concerning different fish and wildlife species, very little information is known about how anglers, hunters, and wildlife watchers might view such changes in...
Seabird Diets in a Warming Climate: An Assessment of the Relationships of Terns (Sterna sp.) and their Prey in the Northern Breeding Range
The Northeast coast of the United States is an important area for a variety of native nesting seabirds including Common, Least, Arctic, and the federally endangered Roseate terns. These species migrate to the Northeast region to take advantage of highly productive waters during late spring and early summer to breed and raise their young. During this period, adults are highly dependent on...
The State of Climate Adaptation Science for Ecosystems in the Northwestern U.S.
Managing species and habitat in a changing climate requires locally specific information about expected changes in the physical environment, key stressors and related ecological changes. Federal investments have supported the development of a significant scientific knowledge base detailing potential future conditions for many Northwest ecosystem types and geographies. Yet scientists...
Adapting to Climate Change: Trends and Severe Storm Responses by Migratory Landbirds and Their Habitats
Over two-thirds of all landbirds (i.e. birds that spend the majority of their lives in terrestrial environments) in North America migrate long-distances to areas in Mexico, Central and South America and the Caribbean islands. Habitats within Texas and Louisiana support high numbers of birds when they interrupt their migratory journeys through the Gulf of America region to “stopover” for...
An Assessment of Invasive Species Range Shifts in the Southeastern U.S. and Actions to Manage Them
Species are on the move as they respond to climate change. This includes many native species, but also species with high costs to society such as disease vectors, pests, and nonnative invasive species (an invasive species is a species that is not native to a specific location but is spreading with the tendency of causing damage to native plants and animals). Currently there are hundreds...