Shannon Buckley M.S. Student, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry.

The Rusty Blackbird (Euphagus carolinus) has experienced the most dramatic decline of any North American bird species in the last century.  “Rusties” breed in boreal wetlands across North America, extending from the Northeastern US, across Canada and into Alaska.  Researchers from New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine are collaborating in an effort to understand habitat requirements and the role of timber harvesting in habitat selection and nest success across the Northeast.  Study areas include the Adirondack Park, the White Mountains of New Hampshire, and the Moosehead Lake region of Maine.  Data on breeding demographics and habitat selection are being obtained through a variety of on-the-ground and remote methods including monitoring nests with motion-triggered cameras, radio telemetry, vegetation measurements and GIS analysis. 

Biological surveys of small mammals from Boreal Forest within the Adirondack Park, New York State

Darrin P. Lunde¹, Roland W. Kays², Kristofer M. Helgen^1
1National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution; ²New York State Museum

One of the principal functions of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) is to maintain an updated inventory of the mammal species of the world. Specimens are the key to any biotic inventory, but for many eastern United States mammals, these are still lacking. This is particularly true for small mammals such as rodents, shrews, and small carnivores, which can be difficult to sample without specialized techniques. The boreal forests within the Shingle Shanty Preserve offer excellent habitat for collecting some of these poorly-represented species, and we would like to sample and properly voucher some of the species inhabiting this important ecosystem. We are proposing to survey small mammals in within the Shingle Shanty Preserve of the Adirondacks as the first of an intended series of mammal surveys targeting poorly known species and under-surveyed regions throughout the eastern United States. 

Genetic Diversity and Distribution of Boreal Bird Species

Jeremy Kirchman, Curator of Ornithology, New York State Museum.

Ornithology research at New York State Museum examines the ways that geography, climate change, and genetic diversity affect the evolution and extinction of bird populations.  We focus on cold-adapted species with “arctic-alpine” distributions in the boreal forest biome of North America.  The boreal forest, covering 14.5% of Earth's land surface, reaches its southern periphery at 50° - 60°N latitude but occurs as far south as 40°N at high elevations.  The ranges of arctic-alpine species undergo elevational and latitudinal shifts in response to fluctuating climates, resulting in cycles of isolation and remixing of peripheral populations that have important implications for the formation of new species and the loss of genetically unique populations.  We use the tools of molecular genetics to address questions such as:  Are disjunct populations at range peripheries evolving independently of one another? How do dispersal and migratory behaviors affect geographic patterns of genetic diversity? How much genetic diversity will be lost in the coming decades given alternative climate warming scenarios?

Principal investigator: Dr. Michale Glennon. Wildlife Conservation Society’s Adirondack Communities and Conservation Program. Field Staff: Melanie McCormack.

Summary:

The Adirondacks is the southern-most extent of many habitats that support boreal bird species. As part of the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Adirondack Living Landscapes Program this research tries to map the abundance and distribution of the Rusty Blackbirds (Euphagus carolinus) and other boreal birds in the Adirondacks. This information is to be used as baseline data for understanding the effects of global climate change and to help with long term conservation planning. The principal investigator is Dr. Michale Glennon (WCS) and the supporting investigator is Melanie McCormack (Master of Science candidate, Green Mountain College).

Shingle Shanty Preserve and Research Station’s offers extensive boreal wetland habitat that is known to support species included in WCS’s boreal bird research.

Preliminary results

The following species were observed at Shingle Shanty Preserve and Research Station: Wild Turkey, Ruffed Grouse, Belted Kingfisher, Broad-winged Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Northern Flicker, Hairy Woodpecker, Least Flycatcher, Yellow-bellied flycatcher, Olive-sided flycatcher, Alder flycatcher, Chimney Swift, Boreal Chickadee, Black-capped chickadee, Golden-crowned kinglet, Brown Creeper, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Winter Wren, Black-throated Green Warbler, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Myrtle Warbler, Chestnut-sided warbler, Nashville Warbler. Northern Waterthrush, Common Yellowthroat, Palm Warbler, American Redstart, Northern Parula, Magnolia Warbler, Blue-headed Vireo, Red-eyed Vireo, Cedar Waxwing, American Robin, Hermit Thrush, Blue Jay, American Crow, Common Grackle, Red-winged Blackbird, Rusty Blackbird (3 nests), Swamp Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, Lincoln’s Sparrow, Scarlet Tanager

L. W. MYERS, B. C. KONDRATIEFF, T. B. MIHUC and D. E. RUITER

TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY VOLUME 137, NUMBERS 1+2: 63-140, 2011