LTREB: Predicting the Responses of Swallows and Their Insect Prey to Climate Change

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This project will explore, through a series of observations and experiments on over 300 nesting attempts per year, how climate change will affect Tree Swallows nesting near Ithaca, New York, and their insect prey. The proposed research will network 25 active nests with temperature sensors, motion-detecting web cameras and Radio Frequency Identification readers to provide details on avian responses to environmental change. The proposed research investigates the effects of different thermal environments, not only on the birds directly, but indirectly through observations and experiments on the effects of temperature on insect flight. The project will directly support five graduate students and nine undergraduates and indirectly support the research of at least 20 more from a diversity of ethnic backgrounds. The Ithaca site will continue to serve as the test-bed for techniques and approaches at other Tachycineta study sites in the pan-American Golondrinas de la Americas research network. Data from this project will cap a 25-year dataset, made available to the public at the Ithaca page of the Golondrinas web-site: http://golondrinas.cornell.edu. This five-year research program is a focused approach to the most pervasive and important environmental concern of our time: global warming and how both birds and insects will respond to it.