Applying remote sensing tools to regional conservation planning for migratory landbirds

Abstract

The dramatic seasonal migrations of Nearctic-Neotropical migratory landbirds confound efforts to design effective conservation strategies that will protect migrants throughout all phases of their annual cycle, particularly during passage. However, advances in radar ornithology and geographic information science (GIS) now make it possible to locate migratory stopover sites and integrate the spatial and temporal patterns of migrant stopover with data on land cover, habitat configuration and land use. I will employ weather surveillance radar and GIS tools in development of a model regional conservation plan for protecting migratory landbirds during passage. The central steps in developing the proposed conservation plan include creating, applying, and assessing a standardized ranking system for prioritizing the conservation value of migratory landbird stopover sites.

Mentors

Dr. Ted Simons in the Department of Zoology at North Carolina State University

Undergraduate Education

B.A. Biology, Bryn Mawr College, 1986

Graduate Education

M.S. University of Maryland, Department of Zoology, 1992

Ph.D. University of Southern Mississippi, expected 2001. "Proximate and ultimate causes and consequences of sex-based differential migration."

Publications

Able, B., Duncan, C., Ewert, D, Ford, M., Mabey, S., Mehlman, D., Patterson, P. Sutter, R., and Woodrey, M. In review. Protecting Stopover Sites for Forest-Dwelling Migratory Landbirds: A Nature Conservancy Issue Paper from the Migratory Bird Program, the Great Lakes Program & the Southeast Division.

Current Title and Affiliation

Associate Professor & Co-Director, Environmental Studies Program at Hiram College

Sarah Mabey