Grant: Collaborative Research and Development Grants

One of the highly cited causes of migratory bird declines in North-America is growth in agriculture, which is a significant concern for our partner. Terre-Eau Inc. is a consulting firm promoting ecological practices that favor the maintenance of biodiversity in farmlands. At Terre-Eau's request, a major goal of this project is to refine our understanding of how agriculture intensity and pesticide use affect the physiological state of birds during migration and wintering. We will use the snow bunting (Plectrophenax nivalis) as our model since this species is commonly found in agricultural landscapes, particularly corn fields, during these two critically understudied and sensitive life-history stages and because it has been declining considerably in recent years. Focusing on these stages, our project aims at (1) providing health data in this model species, (2) improving knowledge on the species migratory physiology and at (3) developing a simple technique to measure individual fattening rate in the field during migration. An important goal is also to (4) evaluate the level of pesticide contamination in buntings and the associated physiological consequences during winter, across its East-Canadian range, and during migration along the St-Lawrence, which encompasses Terre-Eau's range of operation. In addition to training 3 MSc, 1PhD, 1 Postdoc and several BSc, this research will bring new technical expertise for Terre-Eau and critical knowledge on avian physiology that will be of great importance for advising on corn production and farming practices. This project addresses issues that are of economic and environmental importance to Ontario, Québec and Canada. To our knowledge, this will be the first studies to ask whether a declining migratory arctic songbird is affected by crop pesticides in Canada. Furthermore, the sum of research to be achieved in this proposal will develop a wider understanding of wintering and migration physiology in birds throughout Canada. This project is novel, as we are helping an environmental consulting company balance the economic gains of agriculture with sustainability.