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Riverbird distributions and habitat use

Author(s): John McLaughlin

Western Washington University

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Summary:
Riverbirds are widespread, use diverse riparian habitats, and respond rapidly to changing conditions. Students can apply riverbird data to evaluate hypotheses about these responses, while gaining research experience, working collaboratively in…

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Riverbirds are widespread, use diverse riparian habitats, and respond rapidly to changing conditions. Students can apply riverbird data to evaluate hypotheses about these responses, while gaining research experience, working collaboratively in teams, and contributing data to monitoring programs. In this project, students determine distributions and habitat use of birds associated with rivers. The module can be done by students in high school through graduate school, with applications ranging from simple comparisons of species count data to advanced analysis of habitat selection. Students collect data on birds and habitats while traveling downriver in boats. After collecting data, students compare habitats used by each species relative to habitats available by estimating resource selection functions with logistic regression in R. Results can be used to compare abundances and habitat use among species, river reaches, river management regimes. The module can be implemented on multiple river reaches and along diverse rivers to facilitate comparisons or synthesis across river basis. Module results can be applied to evaluate restoration or riparian management programs.
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