| MAPS
Bander: My first research experience was conducted
between my sophomore and junior undergraduate years of college, when I
was hired by the Institute for Bird Populations (IBP) to work as a bird
banding intern at the Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship
(MAPS) field station in Madison, Indiana. This project was developed
to investigate the long-term population viability of birds across North America and to suggest conservation and management
protocols. A typical day involved my walking a
mist-net transect ten times at forty-minute intervals, efficiently
extracting birds and correctly identifying all species observed via
sight or sound; I banded at least half of all birds captured on each
net run and assessed their age, size, and breeding status. These
data were subsequently sent to IBP for entry into a database that has
been maintained since 1989, at the inception of the MAPS project.
Due to the positive evaluations I received from my
supervisor at the end of my first season, I was re-hired by IBP for a
second season as an “expert bander” at Shenandoah National
Park and Sugar Grove, West
Virginia. My
two years of participation in the MAPS program required independence
and the ability to think on my feet, as my partners and I had no
supervisors in the field and were sometimes faced with injured birds,
extreme weather, and other situations not addressed in our protocol
handbook. We also needed to work closely with the military and the park
service for access to some sites, which was important for understanding
chain of command in, and communication with, these organizations. I
learned a great deal about working in physically challenging conditions
and about dividing responsibilities between multiple workers in the
field. When conducting vegetation analyses,
protocol called for my partners and I to reach consensus regarding the
percent cover, average height, and landscape structure at each site.
Our give-and-take discussions were important for learning
how to compromise. Both the Indiana and Virginia
sites had separate groups of study organisms, so I was called upon to
learn identification of hundreds of different species in a short period
of time. Additionally, while at Shenandoah, I was
part of a team that discovered the first evidence that
saw-whet owls (Aegolius acadicus) were breeding in the park. |
| Senior
Undergraduate Research: For my
senior thesis research at Haverford College, I investigated whether the Crum Woods
surrounding Swarthmore College were experiencing a decline in diversity or
richness as increased urbanization reduced the size of the woods. From
1998-2003, Professor Janet Williams and her ornithology class (of which
I was a member in 2003) had conducted weekly transects through the
woods. Her modified point counts documented the arrival dates of
migratory birds, as well as the diversity and richness of species found
within the Crum area. An analysis of bird
demographics among years showed a significant decrease in diversity and
richness. However, the Crum point counts suggested
higher diversity and richness than those indicated by Breeding Bird
Survey data for the same year in the same region of Pennsylvania, suggesting that the Crum Woods served as a
refuge for local avifauna. For this reason, a local
conservation group focused on advising local government and private
landowners on issues of land management in the Crum Woods requested a
copy of my manuscript for future citation in policy recommendations.
This project was the first opportunity I had to develop my
own research questions and to participate in collecting, electronically
organizing, and analyzing data. It also was the
first time that a student from my college had pursued an
ecologically-oriented senior thesis project or had collaborated with a
biology professor from another school; I subsequently was asked to
write a manual for Haverford College advising professors and students on how to
participate in such a partnership. |
Blackwater NWR Intern: Following my graduation from Haverford College, I was hired as an intern at the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge in Cambridge, Maryland, where I performed a variety of tasks.
Officially, I was one of two forest bird surveyors for the
Joint Fire Science Project (JFSP) conducted by a consortium of
government agencies. Because fire is necessary for
maintaining the habitat required by the threatened Delmarva fox
squirrel (Sciurus niger), managers in the Delaware-Maryland-Virginia
area are interested in conducting prescribed burns in national wildlife
areas. However, the effects of burning are not well
understood in eastern regions and it is hypothesized that prescribed
burns might negatively affect breeding birds, particularly by reducing
habitat required protection, nest space, and nutritional resources.
The JFSP project involved two years of pre-burn bird
monitoring, followed by a fall burn and two subsequent years of
post-burn monitoring. I participated in the second year of
pre-treatment monitoring for JFSP, meaning that I walked transects
twice a week at eight sites, identifying all birds seen or heard at
randomly-selected point count coordinates. These
were done independently, with my partner surveying one half of the plot
while I surveyed the other. During the month of
July, we also conducted rigorous vegetation analysis at
randomly-selected point count coordinates. Working
in groups of two or three people, we used quadrats
and transects to identify vegetation
species, conduct DBH measurements of trees within each plot area to
ascertain community dominance and successional
stage, and measure percent cover. A similar fire science study was
being undertaken in marsh habitat, also, and I periodically assisted
the marsh bird surveyor in conducting point counts along Blackwater River and at various Chesapeake Bay islands. While at Blackwater, I also served as a computer
technician due to my experience as a webmaster, lab manager, and
computer help desk worker at Haverford College. Additionally, I contributed
to Maryland State Bird Atlas surveys of breeding birds (finding the
first ruddy duck (Oxyura jamaicensis) present at Blackwater
NWR during the breeding season), assisted in large-scale pelican- and
osprey-banding efforts in the Chesapeake Bay, ground-proofed portions
of maps generated by GIS technicians at Blackwater,
and did a small amount of radio telemetry with the Delmarva fox
squirrels.
|
| Master’s
Student: As a Master’s student at
the College of William and Mary (Williamsburg, VA), I developed a
project that quantifies the effects of human disturbance on Eastern
bluebird (Sialia sialis) breeding success to test the
hypothesis that higher levels of human disturbance lead to lowered
reproductive output and diminished chick condition. Using
an existing network of bluebird nest boxes, I measured brood success
and chick condition, as well as levels, proximities, and types of human
disturbance within the breeding territory. During
data collection, I managed “Team Bluebird” by creating nest box
visitation schedules that incorporate several hundred boxes,
distributing assignments to myself and two
field assistants, and staying in contact with approximately a dozen
managers at our different sites in order to coordinate box placement,
maintenance, and permission to visit. We are
currently in the analysis stage of this project. Throughout
the duration of the study I have written several grant proposals, with
recent awards from the Williamsburg Bird Club and the Charles Center at
the College of William and Mary. I also attended
the American Ornithologists’ Union conference this summer in order to
discuss my research with others; I plan to present my preliminary
results at a conference during the summer of 2005. |