#801: MAPS: Songbird Population Cycles
Biologist Dr. Ken Foster of Owl Moon Environmental is researching bird populations in the Oil sands region of Northeastern Alberta.
Called MAPS, this stands for Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship.
Dr. Foster says one finding over the last five years is that songbird populations oscillate across the continent.
DR KEN FOSTER: The biggest finding so far is that these species have a natural cycle of abundance. And so in the early days of the MAPS program, 2011, 2012, we had fairly high capture numbers particularly of Tennessee Warbler, and sparrows, such as the White Throated Sparrow. And that in that time, the number of captures had decreased until 2015 when we saw an uptake in bird numbers again. This would be a continental scale population cycle, not something driven by boreal forest habitats, but indicative of a broader population cycle.
Dr. Ken Foster suggests these bird populations changes could be related to cycles in insect infestations and climate cycles like El Nino
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Program Date: 2016-08-09