Implementing the Avian Monitoring Protocols for the Northern Colorado Plateau I&M Network of the National Park Service

About This Grant

The Northern Colorado Plateau Network (NCPN) and the cooperator will analyze 11 years of avian monitoring data and continuing to conduct avian monitoring during the 2017 and 2018 avian breeding seasons (May July). The NCPN includes landbird monitoring at 12 National Park units. This knowledge previously gained during 11 years of monitoring will provide University of Delaware with new region wide information from the arid west about bird communities in protected areas that they can add to their research and educational programs. The analyses of long term data sets helps students develop and demonstrate research strategies, evaluation skills, critical thinking, problem solving, and participate in networked conversations. The Northern Colorado Plateau Network has been monitoring landbirds as a vital sign since 2005 using the status and trends of the breeding bird community as an indicator of ecosystem integrity, contributing to local and regional avian population monitoring programs, and to communicate to visitors and the public, the importance of NCPN parks as breeding bird habitat (Daw et al. 2009). The NCPN landbird monitoring program was designed to provide long-term population status and trend information for breeding landbirds in three discrete habitat types; low-elevation riparian, pinyon-juniper, and sage shrubland. We will collaborate with the Cooperator, using the existing NCPN avian long-term monitoring data to determine the avian community turnover and species distribution shifts in response to climate change in the northern Colorado plateau. Using 11 years of landbird monitoring data from NCPN parks, we will quantify avian community diversity metrics (alpha- and beta-diversity) among Low-elevation Riparian, Pinyon-Juniper, and Sagebrush Shrubland habitats. We will use remotely sensed land cover, altitude, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), and precipitation data (e.g., annual Snow cover, spring flow, and rainfall) to examine relationships among landbird community turnover (beta-diversity) and the potential effects of climate change. The general aim of this aspect of the project is to use the existing NCPN to test for changes in beta diversity along elevation gradients within and among the habitat-types. We will also select a sub-set of sensitive species and quantify species-based shifts in distribution and trends in abundance using predictive Bayesian occupancy and abundance modeling. Second, we will implement the 2017 and 2018 breeding bird monitoring field season at NCPN parks following the landbird monitoring protocol. The primary purpose of this study is not the acquisition of property or services for the direct benefit or use by the Federal Government, but rather to accomplish a public purpose of support or stimulation authorized the Legislative Authorities listed above.