The Effects of Vegetative Disturbance on Winter Riparian Bird Populations: A Multinomial Analysis
Abstract
Two rural stream sites intended for enhancement were evaluated pre-construction to
collect baseline data on riparian bird populations and vegetative characteristics.
The fixed-radius point count method was used to survey the winter avian community,
and vegetative attributes (DBH, percent tree canopy cover, volume of downed woody
debris) were collected within each of the radius plots. Using a multinomial regression,
the probability of detecting each bird species was calculated for each survey plot
and subsequently related to the characteristics of the vegetation to create a model
that describes the winter bird-habitat relationship. The model predicted that major
vegetative disturbances would be highly detrimental to the diversity of the winter
bird community, and demonstrated that mature bottomland hardwood forests are ideal
for the numerous habitat preferences of different wintering birds. These data provide
the basis for multiple suggestions for stream restoration practices on sites where
the riparian buffer is already composed of mature bottomland hardwood forests, the
most important of which is conserving and improving the established vegetation by
considering stream mitigation practices that are less disruptive than restoration.
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Master's projectPermalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/1015Citation
Vaughan, Kristin (2009). The Effects of Vegetative Disturbance on Winter Riparian Bird Populations: A Multinomial
Analysis. Master's project, Duke University. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/1015.Collections
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