Spatial and temporal variation in the response of migratory species to anthropogenic land use

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Migratory species are declining globally due to a range of threats including habitat loss, climate change, barriers to migration and overhunting. Among these threats, one of the most serious for migratory species, and biodiversity in general, is the expansion and intensification of agriculture (AEI). Migratory species will experience the effects of AEI in different geographic regions and during different life stages (e.g. breeding vs non-breeding). Therefore, how they respond in one period of the annual cycle does not necessarily predict how they will respond in another. Despite this, nearly all research on this topic has taken a static approach with a focus on a particular time of year and location. If we are to mitigate the impacts of AEI on migratory species we need a more dynamic approach to understand how and why sensitivity to AEI varies across space and time, and how these responses influence the conservation status of species and communities. My long-term research goals are to study how species and communities respond to anthropogenic land-use and climate variability across the annual cycle and the implications of these responses for conservation. The short-term goals that my students and I will explore in this proposal focus on two main objectives. First, how does sensitivity to agricultural land-use vary for migratory species across space and time, and what is the relationship between sensitivity at particular stages of the annual cycle and species declines? Second, does the spatial scale at which migratory species respond most strongly to agricultural land-use vary between the breeding and non-breeding periods of the annual cycle? In conducting this research, I will train 1PhD, 3MSc and 4BSc honours students. Amidst the rising intensity of anthropogenic land use, the conservation of migratory species requires that we have a comprehensive understanding of how they respond to this threat at different stages of the annual cycle. The research that my students and I will conduct in this proposal will take a novel and dynamic approach to this challenge through a combination of studies that use citizen science data to identify patterns at macroecological scales and detailed field-based studies with a replicated approach on the breeding grounds of migratory species in Canada and on their non-breeding grounds in Colombia. The combined information from these studies will help conservation practitioners to establish geographical conservation priorities and target the most impactful stage of the annual cycle for the recovery of declining migratory bird populations.