Browsing by Author "Huang, Ryan M"

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Open Access
Batch-produced, GIS-informed range maps for birds based on provenanced, crowd-sourced data inform conservation assessments.
(PloS one, 2021-01) Huang, Ryan M; Medina, Wilderson; Brooks, Thomas M; Butchart, Stuart HM; Fitzpatrick, John W; Hermes, Claudia; Jenkins, Clinton N; Johnston, Alison; Lebbin, Daniel J; Li, Binbin V; Ocampo-Peñuela, Natalia; Parr, Mike; Wheatley, Hannah; Wiedenfeld, David A; Wood, Christopher; Pimm, Stuart L
Accurate maps of species ranges are essential to inform conservation, but time-consuming to produce and update. Given the pace of change of knowledge about species distributions and shifts in ranges under climate change and land use, a need exists for timely mapping approaches that enable batch processing employing widely available data. We develop a systematic approach of batch-processing range maps and derived Area of Habitat maps for terrestrial bird species with published ranges below 125,000 km2 in Central and South America. (Area of Habitat is the habitat available to a species within its range.) We combine existing range maps with the rapidly expanding crowd-sourced eBird data of presences and absences from frequently surveyed locations, plus readily accessible, high resolution satellite data on forest cover and elevation to map the Area of Habitat available to each species. Users can interrogate the maps produced to see details of the observations that contributed to the ranges. Previous estimates of Areas of Habitat were constrained within the published ranges and thus were, by definition, smaller-typically about 30%. This reflects how little habitat within suitable elevation ranges exists within the published ranges. Our results show that on average, Areas of Habitat are 12% larger than published ranges, reflecting the often-considerable extent that eBird records expand the known distributions of species. Interestingly, there are substantial differences between threatened and non-threatened species. Some 40% of Critically Endangered, 43% of Endangered, and 55% of Vulnerable species have Areas of Habitat larger than their published ranges, compared with 31% for Near Threatened and Least Concern species. The important finding for conservation is that threatened species are generally more widespread than previously estimated.
Open Access
Sooty tern (Onychoprion fuscatus) survival, oil spills, shrimp fisheries, and hurricanes.
(PeerJ, 2017-01) Huang, Ryan M; Bass, Oron L; Pimm, Stuart L
Migratory seabirds face threats from climate change and a variety of anthropogenic disturbances. Although most seabird research has focused on the ecology of individuals at the colony, technological advances now allow researchers to track seabird movements at sea and during migration. We combined telemetry data on Onychoprion fuscatus (sooty terns) with a long-term capture-mark-recapture dataset from the Dry Tortugas National Park to map the movements at sea for this species, calculate estimates of mortality, and investigate the impact of hurricanes on a migratory seabird. Included in the latter analysis is information on the locations of recovered bands from deceased individuals wrecked by tropical storms. We present the first known map of sooty tern migration in the Atlantic Ocean. Our results indicate that the birds had minor overlaps with areas affected by the major 2010 oil spill and a major shrimp fishery. Indices of hurricane strength and occurrence are positively correlated with annual mortality and indices of numbers of wrecked birds. As climate change may lead to an increase in severity and frequency of major hurricanes, this may pose a long-term problem for this colony.
Open Access
Where Data Science and the Disciplines Meet: Innovations in Linking Doctoral Students With Masters-Level Data Science Education
(Harvard Data Science Review) Preiss, Doreet; Sperling, Jessica; Huang, Ryan M; Bradbury, Kyle; Nechyba, Thomas; Calderbank, Robert; Herschlag, Gregory; Borg, Jana Schaich