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Life Sciences Commons

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Animal Sciences

University of New England

Series

2017

Articles 1 - 3 of 3

Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Geolocator Data Reveal The Migration Route And Wintering Location Of A Caribbean Martin (Progne Dominicensis), Noah G. Perlut, Thomas C. Klak, Eldar Rakhimberdiev Sep 2017

Geolocator Data Reveal The Migration Route And Wintering Location Of A Caribbean Martin (Progne Dominicensis), Noah G. Perlut, Thomas C. Klak, Eldar Rakhimberdiev

Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

Caribbean Martins (Progne dominicensis) are common breeders on most Caribbean islands, where they regularly roost and nest in urban areas from February through August. However, from September through January, the basic ecology of this species--its migration and wintering locations--are largely unknown. In 2012, we deployed seven geolocators, and in 2014, we recovered one geolocator from a female Caribbean Martin on the Commonwealth of Dominica, a small eastern Caribbean island. Her wintering location was the western portion of the State of Bahia, Brazil, ~3550 km southeast of Dominica. Although the location of the non-breeding grounds changed minimally, the fall …


Winter Diet Of Bobolink, A Long-Distance Migratory Grassland Bird, Inferred From Feather Isotopes, Rosalind B. Renfrew, Jason M. Hill, Daniel H. Kim, Christopher Romanek, Noah G. Perlut Jun 2017

Winter Diet Of Bobolink, A Long-Distance Migratory Grassland Bird, Inferred From Feather Isotopes, Rosalind B. Renfrew, Jason M. Hill, Daniel H. Kim, Christopher Romanek, Noah G. Perlut

Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

Effective conservation of migratory bird populations depends on advancements in our understanding of processes throughout the life cycle. Fundamental information about wintering ecology (e.g., habitat use and diet composition) remains limited, which limits assessment of threats to populations during winter. Bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus) is a year-round grassland obligate and Nearctic-Neotropical migrant that undergoes 2 complete molts each year, including a complete prealternate molt on the South American wintering grounds. This unusual winter molt provides a rare opportunity to examine, using stable isotope analysis, the timing and contribution of foraging resources in the Bobolink diet prior to northbound migration …


A Multicriteria Decision Analysis For Identifying Priority Conservation Areas For Grassland Birds, Flavio Sutti, Allan Strong, Noah G. Perlut Jan 2017

A Multicriteria Decision Analysis For Identifying Priority Conservation Areas For Grassland Birds, Flavio Sutti, Allan Strong, Noah G. Perlut

Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

Biodiversity conservation frequently competes with the needs of society for agricultural production and development. However, properly designed and efficiently implemented conservation programs can be used to integrate wildlife and human needs. We tested the efficacy of multicriteria decision analysis as a tool to select priority areas for conservation in human-dominated landscapes using grassland birds in the northeastern US as a test case. We created detailed GIS layers including landscape- (forest, grassland, development, and roads within a 3000-m buffer around each grassland patch) and patch-level (size, management, and conservation status) criteria important in grassland bird habitat selection and conservation. We developed …