The effects of Land use change and extreme weather on avian vocal behavior
Cascade Head, located in coastal Oregon, is a UNESCO Biosphere Region, and encompasses the Salmon River and its restored estuary, coastal prairie headlands (home to the federally-listed Oregon silver spot), and the only temperate rainforest in the United States. Cascade Head has a long history of human modification, ecological degradation, and restoration, such that the fingerprint of ancient and modern peoples on the landscape is impossible to ignore.
As an ecological writing resident at the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology, I spent two months in the Cascade Head Scenic Research Area and Siuslaw National Forest exploring how forest age, type, and management approach impacted the community composition and vocal propensity of Pacific Northwest coastal passerines. I deployed AudioMoth automated recording units to detect bird vocalizations, inadvertently capturing multiple extreme rainfall events in the area. With the help of Dr. Meelyn Pandit, I extracted and identified bird vocalizations from several hundred hours of recordings - the results of this study are currently in preparation for publication. Because vocal recordings were made during the non-breeding season in a climatically variable environment, they provide an effective comparison with recordings made during the breeding season in climatically stable environments, like the Oklahoma Painted Buntings used in Dr. Pandit's dissertation research. A comparison of the seasonality of vocal behavior between the two sites, as well as a new seasonal long-short-term memory algorithm, is in preparation for publication (Huang et al. 2023).
As an ecological writing resident at the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology, I spent two months in the Cascade Head Scenic Research Area and Siuslaw National Forest exploring how forest age, type, and management approach impacted the community composition and vocal propensity of Pacific Northwest coastal passerines. I deployed AudioMoth automated recording units to detect bird vocalizations, inadvertently capturing multiple extreme rainfall events in the area. With the help of Dr. Meelyn Pandit, I extracted and identified bird vocalizations from several hundred hours of recordings - the results of this study are currently in preparation for publication. Because vocal recordings were made during the non-breeding season in a climatically variable environment, they provide an effective comparison with recordings made during the breeding season in climatically stable environments, like the Oklahoma Painted Buntings used in Dr. Pandit's dissertation research. A comparison of the seasonality of vocal behavior between the two sites, as well as a new seasonal long-short-term memory algorithm, is in preparation for publication (Huang et al. 2023).
Artificial Light at Night
The Dallas-Fort Worth Area is located within North America's Central Flyway, an important route for many migratory birds. However, many of these species migrate at night, and the artificial light generated by urban development can cause high levels of migratory bird mortality from window strikes. I am contributing to CSU's AeroEco Lab and the Texas Audubon's Light's Out Texas initiative by assisting Masters student Grace Trankina coordinate the installation of solar-powered light sensors on public and private buildings in downtown Fort Worth.