Dissertation Enhancement: Effect of the Landscape Matrix on the Composition and Conservation of Forest Bird Communities

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9521077 Loiselle This Dissertation Enhancement award from the Americas Program, will support travel to Colombia by Mr. Luis M. Renjifo and his advisor, Dr. Bette A. Loiselle, to study the impact of forest fragmentation and the composition of the surrounding landscape matrix on populations of forest bird species. The primary objectives are to address the following major hypotheses: 1) the landscape matrix in which forests are embedded affect bird species composition of small, otherwise similar, forest areas; and 2) bird subgroups differ in their numerical responses to distinct surrounding landscape matrices. An experimental approach will be followed to test these hypotheses, taking advantage of current landscape conditions created by different land uses. Sampling units will be forest fragments within anthropogenic matrices and plots within continuous forests. A third objective will be to examine the historical change of bird assemblages in the study area following fragmentation. This will be done by comparing current species composition of the region's forest to species composition in the region prior to fragmentation, and with the non-fragmented area of study. ***