Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

The ability of animals to move across the land and find the necessary resources to survive is influenced by the configuration of habitat, the types of vegetation present, and the presence of connecting habitat (corridors) through which individuals can move from one patch of suitable habitat to another. As habitat (both those suitable patches and the corridors) in an area is lost or degraded through activities such as the logging of forests, the land becomes more fragmented, the capacity of forest-based individuals to move in search of critical resources is diminished, and populations may disappear. While the specific mechanisms by which changes happening at large spatial scales influence the capacity of individual songbirds to move across the land are beginning to be understood, the effects of habitat change at finer spatial scales remain largely unknown. This is particularly true for juvenile songbirds, about which we know almost nothing from the time they leave the nest until a few individuals from the cohort re-appear the following spring. The large size of radio telemetry transmitters for tracking the movements of individuals previously forced researchers to largely ignore juvenile songbirds, creating an enormous knowledge gap. Using the very small radio transmitters now available to track individuals, I propose to add significantly to our basic knowledge of movements by young boreal forest birds during the initial stages of their first year. My goal is explore how movement decisions are influenced by the resources available to them and how variation in the accessibility of those resources, brought about through forest harvest, may modify these decisions. This information is a key component to the development of improved models of songbird movement that will enhance our general understanding of songbird behaviours and, specifically, their responses to a changing landscape as human exploitation of the boreal forest expands over the coming decades. Facilitating such movement will enhance the survival of songbird populations throughout the Canadian boreal.