CAREER: Community Ecology of Bird Migration - Co-Occurring Migrations and Interspecific Interactions

University Of Maryland Center For Environmental Sciences, Cambridge MD

Investigators

Abstract

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). The migratory journeys of wildlife are shaped in similar ways by the changing seasons, often resulting in many different species moving together through the same areas. During migration these co-occurring species may compete for food, share information or prey on one another. Although these interactions likely influence the success of migration, they remain poorly understood because researchers have almost always focused on one species at a time. Thus, prior studies have been mostly blind to the community of species that travel together. This project will address interactions among co-migrating bird species to test the notion that a wider view on animal migration is needed – one that considers migrating animals as communities engaged in networks of interactions. Through the natural wonder of multi-species bird migrations, the project will also engage the public in science through interactions with wildlife and will provide opportunities for secondary science teachers to do authentic research. This work will take advantage of recent advances in radar ecology and tracking technology, along with long-term datasets from traditional migration monitoring stations, to test theory-based predictions about community assembly processes for nocturnally migrating birds at stopovers, where access to habitat for refueling has important consequences for migration success. The project will test the hypothesis that community structure of nocturnally migrating birds at stopover site is a function of two assembly processes, filtering of migrants from passage flight and searching and settling among habitats. Drivers of the filtering process will be assessed by combining community structure metrics from long-term banding stations with radar-derived measures of migratory passage. The influence of interspecific interactions during searching and settling on movement and use of space at stopovers will be measured with fine-scale tracking of individual birds. The banding and tracking data will also be used to address the influence of community assembly processes on refueling rates and stopover duration, costs that could scale-up to shape migratory routes, phenology, and success. Consistent with calls for the scientific community to expand engagement with science in ways that support dialogue, shift beliefs, and build trust and relationships, this project will bring together science education professionals to conduct an applied evaluative study of public engagement at bird banding stations. The team will also collaborate with secondary science teachers to develop distance learning lessons that address questions about bird migration and climate change. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.