DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Sunbird Community Organization: Opportunities and Challeges for Conservation in Arabuko-Sokoke Forest, Kenya

Amani太阳鸟（Anthreptes pallidigaster），生活在世界上的两个森林。在肯尼亚，它居住在Arabuko-Sokoke森林内的6，700公顷沿海Brachystegia林地。森林的需求是有选择的伐木，生态旅游，小规模的建筑杆和燃料木材收集。这些活动是否会危及或在极端情况下导致阿曼尼太阳鸟的灭绝？我的项目将回答这个问题。为了实现这些目标，我将使用觅食理论和栖息地选择理论来了解社区组织之间的鹅膏太阳鸟（Anthriptes pallidigaster），平原背太阳鸟（Anthriptes reichenowi yokhoui），领太阳鸟（Anthriptes collaris）和橄榄太阳鸟（油桃）。具体来说，我将普查太阳鸟，并使用直接观察来测量太阳鸟的活动模式，以应对栖息地类型，竞争对手，捕食者，花蜜和昆虫的可用性，以确定促进物种成功的因素和威胁它的因素。总之，这些数据将使我能够确定阿曼尼太阳鸟的栖息地偏好，以及栖息地的改变和其他物种的竞争如何影响这些偏好。这一方法的一个长期目标是为各种鸟类的当前和未来问题制定良好的指标，并需要对这一重要和受到严重威胁的森林进行干预。该项目由NSF国际科学与工程办公室共同资助。

Amani Sunbird (Anthreptes pallidigaster), exists in two forests in the world. In Kenya, it resides in a 6,700 ha coastal Brachystegia woodland within Arabuko-Sokoke Forest. The forest is under demand for selective logging, eco-tourism, and small scale building pole and fuel wood collection. Will these activities compromise or, in the extreme, cause the extirpation of the Amani Sunbird? My project will answer this question. To accomplish these goals, I will use foraging theory and habitat selection theory to understand community organization among Amani Sunbird (Anthreptes pallidigaster), Plain-backed Sunbird (Anthreptes reichenowi yokanae), Collared Sunbird (Anthreptes collaris) and Olive Sunbird (Nectarinia olicacea). Specifically, I will census sunbirds and use direct observation to measure activity patterns of sunbirds in response to habitat type, competitors, predators, nectar and insect availability to determine the factors that promote species success and the factor that threatens it.. Together, these data will allow me to determine the habitat preferences of Amani Sunbirds, and how habitat modification and competition from other species affect these preferences. A longer-range goal of this approach will be to develop good indicators of current and future problems for a wide variety of bird species, and needs for intervention in this important and severely threatened forest. This project is being co-funded by NSF's Office of International Science and Engineering.