Effects of Fire, Extreme Weather, and Anthropogenic Disturbance On Avian Biodiversity in the U.S. NASA Biodiversity Science Team Meeting, Washington DC May 18, 2010 Anna M. Pidgeon, V. Radeloff, T. Albright, C. Ritttenhouse, M. Clayton, University of Wisconsin-Madison C. Flather, S. Stewart, U.S. Forest Service J. Masek, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Pidgeon et al., 2007, Ecol. Appl., 17: Bird biodiversity patterns

Research question How does disturbance contribute to patterns of bird biodiversity?

Disturbance and bird biodiversity

Integrating the data

Houses and forest fragmentation: Both fragmentation and housing development had strong effects on avian richness Effects differed by guild and ecoregion E.g., in the West houses were positively correlated with richness, but negatively in East Pidgeon et al., 2007, Ecol. Appl., 17: Lepczyk et al., 2008, Cons. Bio., 22: Disturbance and bird biodiversity

Hurricanes : Hurricanes changed species abundances, and community composition, but did not change species richness Rittenhouse et al., 2010, Global Change Biology Disturbance and bird biodiversity

d1d1 d2d2 Legend BBS route Non-forest Forest Water Post-disturbance forest Disturbed forest Post-disturb. Non-forest

Successive change Progressive change Community similarity

Predicted Community Similarity: Neotrop migrant Proportion of post-disturbance non-forest (Forest Loss)

Predicted Community Similarity: Residents Latitude N S

Predicted Community Similarity: Ground nesters EW Proportion of post-disturbance non-forest (Forest Loss)

Forest disturbance maintained community similarity for several guilds, including neotropical migrants, permanent residents and cavity nesters Forest loss decreased community similarity for all forest birds, and most guilds Disturbance and bird biodiversity

Drought associated with abundance declines among migratory birds in High Plains [Albright et al., in press, Global Change Biol.] Response to -3 S.D. June-ending 32-week SPI Humid Dry Montane

Disturbance and bird biodiversity

MODIS Land surface temperature

Disturbance and bird biodiversity Standardized seasonal land surface temperature exceedance

Summer-long heat wave associated with avian abundance [Albright et al., in revision, Remote Sens. Environ.] Response to summer-long heat wave (+3 C° mean exceedance)

Disturbance and bird biodiversity

Drought and heatwaves: Why consider them jointly? Interaction effects 1) Physical: Negative correlation between anomalies of temperature and precipitation 2) Biotic: Water requirements rise with temperature [Kevin McGowan]

Response of ground-nesting species to drought/heat events Nesting period Post-fledging period

Changes in migratory bird abundance associated with “drought/heat events Nesting period Post-fledging period Temperate migrants Neotropical migrants +20% +15% +10% +5% +2% -2% -5% -10% -15% -20% N Y Significance (P < 0.05)

Drought - Abundance declined, species richness did not change Drought - Abundance declined, species richness did not change Heatwave - Avian community patterns most related to MODIS 8-day LST exceedances Heatwave - Avian community patterns most related to MODIS 8-day LST exceedances Drought/Heat events- effects most severe in arid southwest Drought/Heat events- effects most severe in arid southwest Disturbance and bird biodiversity

Discussion Abundance – 1 st signal of change Mechanisms-loss of juveniles? -returning migrant birds redistribute themselves?

Conclusions Remote sensing measures of climatic stability and forest disturbance are effective in characterizing drivers of avian patterns

Conclusions Communities are continuously in flux Communities are continuously in flux Disturbance affects both interannual variability and long-term avian patterns Disturbance affects both interannual variability and long-term avian patterns Abundance is more strongly affected by climate events than species richness Abundance is more strongly affected by climate events than species richness

Thank you!

Northern Wisconsin Madison, Wisconsin Landcover Housing density