Animal Sciences Commons^™

Avian Occupancy Dynamics And Canada Warbler (Cardellina Canadensis) Environmental Correlates On A Central Appalachian Elevation Gradient In West Virginia, Gordon W. Dimmig

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Mountains are important areas for avian diversity and conservation since they have steep elevational and environmental gradients. In the central Appalachian Mountains, several songbird species have trailing edge populations that are restricted to high elevations. Climate change and other factors can cause species distributions to change, which is of particular concern for birds in restricted trailing edge populations. Additionally, the Canada Warbler (Cardellina canadensis) breeds throughout the Appalachian Mountains and is species of conservation concern due to range-wide population declines. For this project, I used avian point count data from the central Appalachian Mountains to: (1) evaluate the …