2 research outputs found

    MaxEnt Model of Belted Kingfisher Nests Along the Tennessee River Gorge Largely Determined by Soil Type

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    The Belted Kingfisher, Megaceryle alcyon, is a species of bird in the order Coraciiformes known for having burrow-style nests on the borders of rivers, creeks, and lakes. Using data from the Tennessee River Gorge Trust collected via in-person scouting, we mapped documented Belted Kingfisher nesting sites and tested them against a collection of variables, including NCLD 2019 land cover data, bioclimatic factors from WorldClim, and soil type. This was done using ArcGIS, a web mapping service from ESRI. We found based on a series of significance tests that BEKI prefer to nest along bodies of water that are bordered by sandy clay soil. This map suggests various sites that are ripe for further investigation by the Tennessee River Gorge Trust, within their surveyed land we found hot spots for possible BEKI activity on Elder Mountain, and in Falling Water Nature Preserve, all within the city of Chattanooga, TN

    Human Settlement Impacts on Bird Diversity in Ecuador

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    Under the direction of Dr. Renee Godard Though only the size of Colorado, Ecuador ranks fifth in the world for avian diversity, supporting more than a thousand species of bird. We explored the impacts of human settlement on avian diversity by conducting repeated 30 minute surveys of bird diversity in four different locations (suburban, peri-urban, rural cluster, uninhabited). Human settlement characteristics were determined using satellite imagery along with data from the Global Human Settlement Layer. We found that overall bird diversity and the number of novel species between observations decreased with increasing human settlement. Human population growth and the expansion of extractive practices are likely to impact bird diversity and populations in the future
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