THE OVERALL GOAL OF THIS PROPOSAL IS TO USE REMOTE SENSING AND ANIMAL TRACKING DATA TO ASSESS ORGANISMAL RESPONSES TO THE ENVIRONMENT AT THE LEVEL OF THE INDIVIDUAL (HEREAFTER: ENVIRONMENTAL SPECIALIZATION) TO 1) UNDERSTAND THE AMOUNT OF VARIATION PRESENT WITHIN POPULATIONS AND 2) INVESTIGATE UNDERLYING CAUSES FOR THIS VARIATION. MUCH OF OUR UNDERSTANDING OF HOW GLOBAL CHANGE IMPACTS BIODIVERSITY RESTS ON EVIDENCE AT THE SPECIES LEVEL AND IS SURPRISINGLY LIMITED ABOUT WITHIN SPECIES PATTERNS AND PROCESSES. THIS IS ESPECIALLY TRUE FOR SPATIAL BIODIVERSITY PREDICTIONS WHICH OFTEN RELY ON SPECIES DISTRIBUTION MODELS (SDM). GROWING EVIDENCE NOW SHOWS THAT POPULATIONS HARBOR SIGNIFICANT VARIATION AT THE INDIVIDUAL LEVEL WHICH IMPACTS FUNDAMENTAL ECOLOGICAL PROCESSES SUCH AS POPULATION GROWTH RATES AND OUTCOMES OF COMPETITION. THE INCREASING AVAILABILITY OF REMOTELY-SENSED ENVIRONMENTAL VARIABLES IN COMBINATION WITH AGGREGATED GPS ANIMAL TRACKING DATASETS NOW PROVIDE A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY TO QUANTIFY THIS VARIATION FOR MANY SPECIES ACROSS THEIR GEOGRAPHIC RANGES. MY FIRST AIM IS TO USE REMOTELY-SENSED ENVIRONMENTAL TIME-SERIES VARIABLES AND GPS ANIMAL TRACKING DATA TO ASSESS ENVIRONMENTAL SPECIALIZATION FROM TWELVE SPECIES OF WADING BIRDS WATERFOWL AND RAPTORS USING DATA FROM 247 BIRD POPULATIONS (3 694 INDIVIDUALS). I WILL USE EXISTING AND DERIVED TIME-SERIES VARIABLES SUCH AS LAND COVER FOREST LOSS SEASONAL WATER AVAILABILITY AND ANTHROPOGENIC RESOURCES FROM MODIS LANDSAT AND OTHER SOURCES TO CAPTURE INDIVIDUAL-LEVEL ENVIRONMENTAL NICHES. AGGREGATING INDIVIDUAL NICHES INTO POPULATION LEVEL METRICS WILL ALLOW ME TO DESCRIBE PATTERNS OF ENVIRONMENTAL SPECIALIZATION WITHIN POPULATIONS. MY SECOND AIM IS TO INVESTIGATE HYPOTHESIZED DRIVERS OF ENVIRONMENTAL SPECIALIZATION. I WILL INVESTIGATE WHICH REMOTELY-SENSED VARIABLES ARE MOST ASSOCIATED WITH ENVIRONMENTAL SPECIALIZATION RANGING FROM RELATIVELY STABLE CLIMATE VARIABLES TO DYNAMIC VEGETATION INDICES AS WELL AS DRIVERS OF SPECIALIZATION WITHIN POPULATIONS (E.G. COMPETITION FORAGING EXPERIENCE) AND AMONG POPULATIONS (E.G. LANDSCAPELEVEL HABITAT HETEROGENEITY PRODUCTIVITY). FINALLY I WILL TEST WHETHER SPECIES LIFE-HISTORY TRAITS SUCH AS BEING A HABITAT SPECIALIST OR A GENERALIST IS ASSOCIATED WITH THE DEGREE OF ENVIRONMENTAL SPECIALIZATION. THIS RESEARCH ALIGNS WITH NASA'S EARTH SCIENCE RESEARCH PROGRAM'S CARBON CYCLE AND ECOSYSTEMS GOAL TO "DETECT AND PREDICT CHANGES IN EARTH'S ECOLOGICAL AND BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES INCLUDING LAND COVER BIODIVERSITY AND THE GLOBAL CARBON CYCLE". GEO-BON A MULTI-NATIONAL ORGANIZATION WHOSE GOAL IS TO MONITOR GLOBAL BIODIVERSITY CHANGE RECOGNIZES THAT MONITORING SPECIES DISTRIBUTIONS IS CRITICAL IN THIS EFFORT. SPECIES RESPOND TO ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS THAT ARE READILY MEASURED BY REMOTE SENSING BUT INTRASPECIFIC VARIATION MEDIATES THESE RESPONSES. THUS THE ABILITY TO ACCURATELY DETECT AND PREDICT BIODIVERSITY CHANGE-ONE OF NASA'S GOALS-DEPENDS ON UNDERSTANDING THE DEGREE OF ENVIRONMENTAL SPECIALIZATION PRESENT WITHIN POPULATIONS AS WELL AS THE UNDERLYING CAUSES OF THIS SPECIALIZATION. I EXPECT THAT MY PROPOSED RESEARCH WILL LEAD TO A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THE SPATIOTEMPORAL RESPONSE OF MOBILE ORGANISMS TO FINEGRAINED ENVIRONMENTAL VARIABLES. MY FINDINGS WILL PROVIDE A LARGE-SCALE MULTI-SPECIES ASSESSMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL SPECIALIZATION AND MAY CHALLENGE THE RESULTS OF PRIOR STUDIES THAT PERFORM SDM AND ITS ASSUMPTION OF STATIC SPECIES-LEVEL NICHES. MY RESEARCH WILL ADVANCE ECOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE BY TESTING SEVERAL HYPOTHESIZED DRIVERS OF THE UNDERLYING CAUSES OF INDIVIDUAL-LEVEL VARIATION KNOWLEDGE THAT IS VALUABLE FOR PREDICTING BIODIVERSITY RESPONSES TO GLOBAL CHANGE. FINALLY MY RESEARCH WILL DEMONSTRATE HOW TO LEVERAGE INCREASINGLY UBIQUITOUS REMOTE-SENSING AND ANIMAL TRACKING DATA TO INTEGRATE INTRASPECIFIC VARIATION INTO BIODIVERSITY MONITORING AND GLOBAL CHANGE STUDIES