Avian biodiversity in Earth’s most imperilled ecosystem, the tropical dry forest: innovative strategies for conservation monitoring of migratory and resident birds

The use of new monitoring technologies such as the Motus wildlife tracking system and autonomous recorders currently allow detection of animals and their movements in a variety of ecosystems. Although, the biology of migratory birds in northern latitudes is well understood, there is a lack of information on migration routes, stopovers, and overwinter sites in tropical regions. In this project, the intern will combine state-of-the-art tracking technologies with acoustic data in parallel to monitoring migratory and resident birds in a unique ecosystem: the tropical dry forest. The intern will install and maintain two Motus stations, record night flight calls of migratory birds, and diurnal songs of residents’ birds using autonomous recorders filling information gaps in Central America to inform further conservation actions. The intern will also test the recorders in creative ways, which will provide to Wildlife Acoustics data on sound meters performance in the tropics.

Faculty Supervisor:

Daniel Mennill

Student:

Partner:

Birds Canada (ON);Wildlife Acoustics

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Agriculture; Arts, entertainment and recreation; Other services (except public administration); Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

University of Windsor

Program: