For the Birds? Assessing Avian Use of Reforested Areas

Monroe Abstract Kenton Sena (PI) and John Cox (Co-PI) Title: “For the Birds? Assessing avian use of reforested areas in the Lexington Metro area.” Urban ecosystems are often significantly degraded by human activities. Forest loss and fragmentation related to urbanization can compromise habitat quality for birds and other wildlife. Reforestation of urban areas is of interest for carbon storage, heat island reduction, air quality improvement, and stormwater mitigation, but also for habitat improvement. However, avian use of planted urban forests is poorly understood, given that most urban bird research has involved remnant rather than planted urban forests. This project will deploy acoustic sensors in six reforested urban sites, representing a range of years since planting from 0 to 20 years. Deployed sensors will collect acoustic data that will be downloaded and analyzed to identify bird species present at each site. These data will be analyzed to test for effects of planted forest age and other forest metrics (using plant community data collected in summer 2020) on bird community composition. These preliminary data will support further funded research investigating bird communities at all 20 Reforest the Bluegrass sites in Lexington, permitting investigators to explore additional forest metrics potentially meaningful for bird community composition, such as woody stem density, canopy height, invasive species presence, and patch size and connectivity.