Progress 10/01/19 to 09/30/20
Outputs
Target Audience:Natural resource professionals, forest managers, private forest landowners, managers of public land with natural gas resources, policy makers Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Students have attended professional conferences and presented their work there as well as presenting their work tolandonwers, land managers and forest landowners. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Presentations, webinars, landowner workshops, publications What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We will focus on analysis of data and writing; andcontinuing surveys on wood thrush study sites.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Goal 1:We continued to analyze and write up data on the effects of shale gas development on birds and forest ecosystems as well as participating in outreach activities to increase understanding of methods of mitigating negative effects of shale gas development. We completed a book chapter titled "The Effects of Shale Gas Development on Forest Landscapes and Ecosystems in the Appalachian Basin" which will be published by Cambridge University Press in a book on unconventional shale gas development. I participated in an international conference in Columbia, South America on potential effects of shale gas development on ecosystem services as well as conducting numerous outreach activities in Pennsylvania.(Brittingham, Avery, Drohan) Goal 2:We divided forest specialists into groups or guilds to facilitate management recommendations. Our study focuses on species within mature forest habitat. Preliminary results suggest that species that nest and feed in either the canopy or the ground level are more abundant than species associated with the understory or midstory or with conifers. The latter 3 groups require specific management actions to increase occupancy. The presence of conifers is important for conifer species within all forest types. Hemlock specifically appears to be more important than other conifer species. Occupancy of understory and midstory species increases with increasing structure in those layers.(Brittingham, Miller) Goal 3: We continued our surveys of wood thrush (Hylocichla mustelina) a species of conservation concern in many northeaststates. We detected wood thrush at 66.4% of survey points and located 164 wood thrush nests. The probability that a wood thrush would set up a territory increased with increasing understory cover but deceasing woody ground cover. Within the territory, they nested where there was more understory and midstory cover which co-occurred with canopy gaps. These results suggest that forest processes such as natural gap formation might be utilized by wood thrush for nesting within mature forest. Silvicultural techniques that emulate natural gap formation can be used to create the structural diversity associated with key breeding habitat components for wood thrush.(Brittingham, Miller) Goal 4:We focused on developing cost-effective methods of monitoring northern goshawks (Accipiter genitilis) as well as estimating the status of goshawks in Pennsylvania. Northern goshawks are a species of concern in several states, and status reviews require information on population trends and potential threats. We modified two existing survey methods with the goal of developing a protocol that would be more affordable and statistically relevant in areas with low goshawk abundance. We field tested the modified method during the goshawk breeding season in 2018 to estimate detection probability and occupancy of goshawks in the Allegheny National Forest (ANF), Pennsylvania. We estimated that goshawks occupy 6% (95% CI = 0.02-0.14) of suitable habitat in the ANF. We also examined the efficacy of replacing human observers with autonomous recording units (ARUs) to overcome budgetary and logistical limitations of traditional pre-dawn surveys that are used to survey goshawks during courtship. Over 2 seasons we recorded 5040 survey hours at 91 sites in northern Pennsylvania. We built a recognizer in the program monitoR to identify goshawk vocalizations in the recordings and assessed the performance of the recognizer by evaluating precision (the proportion of identified calls that were goshawk calls), recall (the proportion of goshawk calls that were identified) and processing time. The recognizer detected goshawks in 80% (12 out of 15) of sites that were known to be occupied which was more than any other survey method. Additionally, using ARUs and the recognizer greatly reduced analysis time and survey costs. Detections from ARUs and monitoR recognizers can reduce costs and effectively identify occupied territories and vocalization patterns of elusive forest raptors as long as sufficient survey windows are used.(Brittingham, Miller)
Publications
- Type:
Theses/Dissertations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
DeMarco, C. 2020. Improved Methods for Monitoring and Estimating Occupancy of Northern Goshawks: A Field Test of Modified Survey Methods. M.S. Thesis. Pennsylvania State University. 192 pp.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Brittingham. M. C.Birding and Covid-19. Penn State Extension. https://extension.psu.edu/birding-and-covid-19
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Progress 05/01/19 to 09/30/19
Outputs
Target Audience:Natural resource professionals, forest managers, private forest landowners, managers of public land with natural gas resources Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Sttudents have attended professional conferences and presented their work there as well as presenting their work to landowners, land managers and forest landowners. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Presentations, webinars, landowner workshops, publications. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We are working on data analysis in support of all goals. We will continue our work with wood thrush to determine factors influencing reproductive success and nest site selection.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
For goal 1, we conducted an experiment to determine the effects of compressor noise on nesting bluebirds. Natural gas compressor stations emit loud, low-frequency noise that travels hundreds of meters into undisturbed habitat. Anthropogenic noise can cause birds to change their distribution and experience reduced reproductive success. However, the mechanisms driving reduced reproductive success are largely unknown. We established eighty nest boxes to attract Eastern Bluebirds . We experimentally introduced shale gas compressor noise to half the boxes before birds arrived to breed to determine how noise influenced settlement decisions and reproductive output. Bluebirds did not show a preference for box type (noisy or quiet). In bluebird nests associated with compressor noise (noisy boxes), we observed a 4% (P < 0.001) reduction in incubation time, a 12% (P = 0.040) reduction in hatching success, and smaller average brood sizes by 0.4 nestlings (P = 0.027) compared to quiet boxes. We demonstrate that compressor noise causes behavioral changes that lead to reduced reproductive success, and we show that gas infrastructure can create an equal-preference ecological trap, reducing wildlife fitness in otherwise suitable habitat. For goals 2 and 3 we have initiated a study of wood thrush and other forest birds. We established 6 study sites and surveyed wood thrush and other birds at 241 survey points. We located a total of 164 active nests (78 in 2018 and 83 in 2019).Nest sites had significantly lower canopy closure (p=0.044), lower basal area (p<0.003), and higher understory (p<0.001), and midstory (p<0.001) than paired survey points 50m away (preliminary univariate analyses). Of the 164 nests we monitored, nests were primarily placed in a variety of shrubs species with shade tolerant species comprising almost 70% of occupied shrubs. These results correspond with anecdotal observations of utilization of canopy gaps and their resulting shade tolerant understory vegetation by nesting wood thrush. For goal 4, we conducted surveys of goshawks in the Allegheny National Forest, the core of their breeding range in PA, and are currently anlayzing the data to determine occupancy levels.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Williams, D. P., M. C. Brittingham, and J. D. Avery. 2019 Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis) Feeds Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) Nestlings Support for Location-based Decision Rule. The Wilson Journal of Ornithology 131:633-637.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Langlois, L.A. and M. C. Brittingham. 2019. Effects of Marcellus shale gas development on forest fragmentation and the forest bird community in north-central Pennsylvania. U. Wisconsin Green Bay - College of Natural and Applied Sciences- Invited speaker April 2019, Green Bay, Wisconsin.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Brittingham, M. Gardening for Birds and Butterflies. May 4, 2019. Pennsylvania Native Plants Association, Boalsburg, PA.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Brittingham, M. Understanding bird-feeding trends and patterns. Central Garden and Pet, Kaytee Wild Bird Products, May 7, 2019, Milwaukee, WI.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Brittingham, M. Providing and Enhancing Habitat for Wildlife in your Woods. Pennsylvania Forestry Association Symposium, Sept 28, 2019, State College, PA.
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