IRES US-Kenya: Effects of habitat changes on distribution, abundance and resource exploitation by globally-threatened and forest specialist birds in Arabuko-Sokoke Forest, Kenya

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。芝加哥城市学院沃伦赖特学院的约瑟夫·奥尤吉教授将通过调查栖息地改变如何影响热带森林中的鸟类群落来培训来自美国的本科生进行应用生态研究。每年三个夏天，四名本科生和一名教师将前往肯尼亚在Arabuko-Sokoke森林进行实地研究。肯尼亚沿海的阿拉布科-索科克森林是非洲大陆鸟类保护的第二大森林。其中270种鸟类包括6种全球濒危物种、3种近危物种、8种东非区域濒危物种和其他几种森林鸟类。受威胁的鸟类和森林专业鸟类都表现出对某些栖息地类型的偏好。然而，Arabuko-Sokoke森林由于选择性砍伐、建筑用杆采伐、收集薪材和计划外的旅游活动而面临严重压力。这些活动对森林有不同的影响，有可能改变森林结构，对森林鸟类包括森林内的其他生物多样性产生不利影响。我们的目标是研究这些栖息地的修改涉及到的分布，丰度和资源开发的三种珍稀鸟类和三种森林专业鸟类，发生在Arabuko-Sokoke森林。具体来说，学生将使用人口普查数据，雾网和觅食行为观察，以确定环境和生态因素，无论是促进成功或威胁这些物种的生存。PI与肯尼亚野生动物管理局（KWS）生物多样性研究和监测部门的研究科学家Alfred Owino合作，他将参与共同指导。智力优势：该项目直接解决了Seymour和休伊特提出的解释科学领域外流的问题：缺乏信心，竞争气氛和主题枯燥。学生将研究鸟类如何应对栖息地异质性，并最终确定促进物种生存和共存的环境异质性的轴。这个项目将为美国学生提供自我发现的机会，通过？亲自动手实地生态学培训，包括实地准备、实验设计、数据收集和分析、在讲习班、会议和相关科学出版物上的写作和研究报告。拟议的研究调查将通过阐明机制结构的Arabuko-Sokoke森林的鸟类群落，其中包括资源利用，资源分区和共存的机制推进科学。更广泛的影响：威尔伯赖特学院是一个少数民族服务和西班牙裔服务机构约6000名学生，是芝加哥城市学院的一部分。这一学生群体增加了STEM人才库的多样性，从哪个国家？未来的科学人才和技术力量将被吸引。拟议的研究也被列为肯尼亚野生动物管理局的优先研究之一。这项研究的数据将为长期保护Arabuko-Sokoke森林提供所需的信息。此外，这项研究将进一步提高当地自然学家和导游的知识和专业知识，并间接促进他们的职业生涯。该奖项由NSF的环境生物学部门，生物科学理事会共同资助。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).Professor Joseph Oyugi of Warren Wright College of the City Colleges of Chicago will train undergraduate students from the United States in applied ecological research by investigating how habitat alterations affect bird communities in a tropical forest. Each year for three summers, four undergraduates and one faculty will travel to Kenya to conduct field research in Arabuko-Sokoke Forest. Arabuko-Sokoke Forest in coastal Kenya ranks second as the most important forest for bird conservation in mainland Africa. The 270 bird species known from it include six globally threatened, three near-threatened species, eight species categorized as regionally threatened in eastern Africa and several other forest-specialist birds. Both threatened and forest specialist birds show preference for certain habitat types. However, Arabuko-Sokoke Forest is under severe pressure due to selective logging, pole harvesting for building, fuel wood collection and unplanned tourism activities. These activities have different impacts on the forest and have the potentials of altering the forest structure and negatively affect forest birds including other biodiversity within the forest. Our objective is to examine how these habitat modifications relate to the distribution, abundance and resource exploitation by three rare bird species and three forest specialist birds that occur in Arabuko-Sokoke forest. Specifically, students will use census data, mist netting and the foraging behavior observations to determine the environmental and ecological factors that either promote the success or threaten the survival of these species. The PI collaborates with Alfred Owino, Research Scientist with Biodiversity Research and Monitoring Division at the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) who will be involved in co-mentorship.Intellectual Merit: The project directly addresses concerns that Seymour and Hewitt offered to explain the exodus from science fields: lack of confidence, competitive atmosphere and dullness of subject matter. Students will investigate how birds respond to habitat heterogeneity, and in the end identify the axes of environmental heterogeneity that promote species survival and coexistence. This project will provide US students with opportunity for self discovery through ?hands-on? training in field ecology that includes, field preparations, experimental designs, data collection and analysis, writing and research presentation in workshops, conferences and relevant scientific publications. The proposed research investigations will advance science by elucidating mechanisms structuring the bird community of Arabuko-Sokoke Forest, which includes resource use, resource partitioning and mechanisms of coexistence.Broader Impacts: Wilbur Wright College is a Minority Serving and Hispanic Serving Institution of about 6000 students that is part of the City Colleges of Chicago. This student population increase the diversity of the STEM talent pool from which the nation?s future scientific talent and technical force will be drawn. The proposed study is also ranked among the priority studies by the wildlife management authority in Kenya. The data from this research would provide the required information for the long-term conservation of the Arabuko-Sokoke Forest. In addition, the research will further the knowledge and expertise of local naturalists and tour guides, and indirectly further their careers. This award is co-funded by NSF's Division of Environmental Biology, Directorate for Biological Sciences.