CAREER: Community Ecology of Bird Migration - Co-Occurring Migrations and Interspecific Interactions

该奖项的全部或部分资金来自《2021年美国救援计划法案》(公法117-2)。野生动物的迁徙旅程因季节的变化而以类似的方式塑造，通常导致许多不同的物种一起在同一地区迁徙。在迁徙过程中，这些共存的物种可能会争夺食物、分享信息或相互捕食。尽管这些相互作用可能会影响迁徙的成功，但人们对它们的了解仍然很少，因为研究人员几乎总是一次只关注一个物种。因此，以前的研究大多对一起旅行的物种群落视而不见。该项目将探讨共同迁徙的鸟类物种之间的相互作用，以检验是否需要对动物迁徙有更广泛的看法--将迁徙的动物视为参与互动网络的社区。通过多物种鸟类迁徙这一自然奇迹，该项目还将通过与野生动物的互动让公众参与科学，并将为中学科学教师提供进行真实研究的机会。这项工作将利用雷达生态学和跟踪技术的最新进展，以及来自传统迁徙监测站的长期数据集，来测试基于理论的预测，即夜间候鸟在中途停留时的群落聚集过程，在那里获得栖息地的加油对迁徙成功具有重要影响。该项目将检验这一假设，即夜间迁徙的鸟类在中途停留的地点的群落结构是两个组装过程的函数，即过滤通过飞行的候鸟和在栖息地之间搜索和定居。过滤过程的驱动因素将通过结合来自长期带状监测站的社区结构指标和雷达得出的迁徙通道措施进行评估。搜索和定居期间的种间相互作用对中途停留的活动和空间使用的影响将通过对每只鸟的精细跟踪来衡量。带状和跟踪数据还将用于解决社区组装过程对加油率和中途停留时间的影响，以及可能扩大规模以形成迁徙路线、物候和成功的成本。与呼吁科学界以支持对话、转变信念和建立信任和关系的方式扩大与科学的接触相一致，该项目将汇集一个由全女性科学教育专业人员组成的团队，对鸟类环扎站的公众参与进行一项应用评估研究。该团队还将与中学科学教师合作开发远程学习课程，以解决鸟类迁徙和气候变化的问题。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).The migratory journeys of wildlife are shaped in similar ways by the changing seasons, often resulting in many different species moving together through the same areas. During migration these co-occurring species may compete for food, share information or prey on one another. Although these interactions likely influence the success of migration, they remain poorly understood because researchers have almost always focused on one species at a time. Thus, prior studies have been mostly blind to the community of species that travel together. This project will address interactions among co-migrating bird species to test the notion that a wider view on animal migration is needed – one that considers migrating animals as communities engaged in networks of interactions. Through the natural wonder of multi-species bird migrations, the project will also engage the public in science through interactions with wildlife and will provide opportunities for secondary science teachers to do authentic research.This work will take advantage of recent advances in radar ecology and tracking technology, along with long-term datasets from traditional migration monitoring stations, to test theory-based predictions about community assembly processes for nocturnally migrating birds at stopovers, where access to habitat for refueling has important consequences for migration success. The project will test the hypothesis that community structure of nocturnally migrating birds at stopover site is a function of two assembly processes, filtering of migrants from passage flight and searching and settling among habitats. Drivers of the filtering process will be assessed by combining community structure metrics from long-term banding stations with radar-derived measures of migratory passage. The influence of interspecific interactions during searching and settling on movement and use of space at stopovers will be measured with fine-scale tracking of individual birds. The banding and tracking data will also be used to address the influence of community assembly processes on refueling rates and stopover duration, costs that could scale-up to shape migratory routes, phenology, and success. Consistent with calls for the scientific community to expand engagement with science in ways that support dialogue, shift beliefs, and build trust and relationships, this project will bring together an all-female team of science education professionals to conduct an applied evaluative study of public engagement at bird banding stations. The team will also collaborate with secondary science teachers to develop distance learning lessons that address questions about bird migration and climate change.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.