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Biological Diversity

Next-generation natural history

Marie Tosa is a PhD student in the Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Sciences at Oregon State University working with Damon Lesmeister and Taal Levi. Marie spent 2.5 years from 2017-2019 at the Andrews Forest investigating the ecology of the western spotted skunk and surveying the biodiversity of numerous taxa including vegetation, fungus, invertebrates, birds, and mammals. Using camera traps and radio-collars, Marie captured and tracked 31 spotted skunks and has collected data on survival, movement, rest sites, and diet.

Graduate Student Christopher Cousins Receives Bullitt award

News Brief Description: 

Graduate student Christopher Cousins was awarded the Bullitt Environmental Award for his work in connecting his research on amphibians with outreach to Latino youth. Cousins, with the help of his advisor, Tiffany Garcia, and others, is writing a bilingual children's book about frogs, salamanders, and their habitat in the Pacific Northwest. Read more at The Bullitt Foundation website,  KLCC radio and the Corvallis Gazette Times.  Congratulations, Chris! 

Hankyu Kim PhD Defense Aug 30 1PM

Event Date: 
Monday, August 30, 2021
Event Brief Description: 

Please join us on Monday, August 30th at 1 pm on Zoom for a presentation of Hankyu Kim’s dissertation, titled: “An examination of climate and land-use change as drivers of population dynamics in breeding bird populations.” Hankyu is earning his PHD in Forest Ecosystems and Society with Brenda Mc Comb and Matt Betts.

Identifying population changes of birds and drivers of changes over space and time is essential for effective species conservation. Using data collected from the field and archive, Hankyu 1) modeled and analyzed bird population status, 2) tested fine-scale drivers of population changes, and 3) identified migratory movements across the annual cycle of a declining bird species. First, Hankyu quantified the occupancy change of breeding birds in South Korea in the past two decades. Next, he tested if microclimate buffering effect and compositional and structural diversity of forests can mediate negative effects of warming on bird populations at the HJ Andrews Experimental Forest in Oregon, USA. Finally, Hankyu tracked hermit warblers from six breeding populations across their range in the Pacific Northwest. 

Contact the FES Department at FES.Workbox@oregonstate.edu for zoom details or for accommodations for disabilities.

Andrews Forest Monthly Meeting June 4

Event Date: 
Friday, June 4, 2021
Event Brief Description: 

Andrews Forest Monthly Meeting: Friday, June 4, 9-11 AM

For our June 2021 meeting, we will start digging into the theme of interactions, which is the central theme of LTER8. We are going to transition from our discussions of fire over the past four monthly meetings to interactions and microclimates. 
 
Responses of species to environmental change may be mediated by both species interactions and microclimate. Our discussions of fire provides a great lead-in to microclimate as the 2020 fires left patches of differing effects both inside and outside of the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest in the Cascade Mountain Range. Microclimate conditions create fine-scale heterogeneity across the landscape in forest canopy structure, fine-scale topography, and local habitat conditions, which, in turn, influence species, ecosystems, and their underlying processes. With these talks and conversations, we hope to kick off discussions among the research community around interactions, microclimates, and refugia.   
 
JUNE PRESENTATIONS:
 
Talk 1: Ivan Arismendi: Geophysical templates modulate the structure of stream food webs dominated by omnivory
 
Talk 2: Sarah Frey/Matt Betts: Heterospecific interactions mediate colonization dynamics of birds across a microclimate gradient
 

SCIENCE CAFÉ ABOUT INTERACTIONS
 
After our presentations, we will move into a SCIENCE CAFÉ (with virtual coffee) to discuss the topic of interactions. Everyone is welcome to participate. During this science café, we will host smaller breakout discussions around the theme of interactions at the Andrews Forest to more deeply understand the role of species interactions and microclimates. 
 
Introduction to “Interactions” in LTER8: Matt Betts
 
Breakout room discussions will focus on four topics laid out in LTER8, but we will have multiple rooms around each theme to facilitate conversation:
 
1)    How forests modulate the expression of regional climate to create local microclimate patterns in mountains (Moderator: Mark Schulze)
2)    How microclimate and legacies of land use and disturbance influence populations, communities and ecosystem processes (Moderator: Dave Bell)
3)    How species interactions amplify or reduce responses to microclimate (Moderator: Matt Betts)
4)    How values filter the use of science in land use decisions (Moderators: Michael Nelson, Chelsea Batavia)
 
We will then reconvene to briefly describe discussions in the breakout rooms.

Our meetings follow the academic year. Next meeting: October 1, 2021.  9-11 AM. 

Contact Lina DiGregorio for Zoom link.

Andrews Forest Monthly Meeting June 4

Event Date: 
Friday, June 4, 2021
Event Brief Description: 

Andrews Forest Monthly Meeting: Friday, June 4, 9-11 AM

For our June 2021 meeting, we will start digging into the theme of interactions, which is the central theme of LTER8. We are going to transition from our discussions of fire over the past four monthly meetings to interactions and microclimates. 
 
Responses of species to environmental change may be mediated by both species interactions and microclimate. Our discussions of fire provides a great lead-in to microclimate as the 2020 fires left patches of differing effects both inside and outside of the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest in the Cascade Mountain Range. Microclimate conditions create fine-scale heterogeneity across the landscape in forest canopy structure, fine-scale topography, and local habitat conditions, which, in turn, influence species, ecosystems, and their underlying processes. With these talks and conversations, we hope to kick off discussions among the research community around interactions, microclimates, and refugia.   
 
JUNE PRESENTATIONS:
 
Talk 1: Ivan Arismendi: Geophysical templates modulate the structure of stream food webs dominated by omnivory
 
Talk 2: Sarah Frey/Matt Betts: Heterospecific interactions mediate colonization dynamics of birds across a microclimate gradient
 

SCIENCE CAFÉ ABOUT INTERACTIONS
 
After our presentations, we will move into a SCIENCE CAFÉ (with virtual coffee) to discuss the topic of interactions. Everyone is welcome to participate. During this science café, we will host smaller breakout discussions around the theme of interactions at the Andrews Forest to more deeply understand the role of species interactions and microclimates. 
 
Introduction to “Interactions” in LTER8: Matt Betts
 
Breakout room discussions will focus on four topics laid out in LTER8, but we will have multiple rooms around each theme to facilitate conversation:
 
1)    How forests modulate the expression of regional climate to create local microclimate patterns in mountains (Moderator: Mark Schulze)
2)    How microclimate and legacies of land use and disturbance influence populations, communities and ecosystem processes (Moderator: Dave Bell)
3)    How species interactions amplify or reduce responses to microclimate (Moderator: Matt Betts)
4)    How values filter the use of science in land use decisions (Moderators: Michael Nelson, Chelsea Batavia)
 
We will then reconvene to briefly describe discussions in the breakout rooms.

Our meetings follow the academic year. Next meeting: October 1, 2021.  9-11 AM. 

Contact Lina DiGregorio for Zoom link.

Student Spotlight Hankyu Kim

News Brief Description: 

Hankyu Kim studies birds, microclimate, and forest vegetation as a part of ongoing long-term ecological research on songbird populations at the Andrews Forest. Using long-term data, Hankyu is testing if forest microclimate can predict breeding bird population dynamics, and how the interaction of forest composition and structure regulate bird population trends. Hankyu also is studying the migration ecology of Hermit Warblers, a bird that needs mature coniferous forests for breeding. To track the birds’ movements, Hankyu put data loggers on the backs of Hermit Warblers captured on their breeding grounds at the Andrews Forest and across Pacific Northwest. Preliminary data suggests that the birds from the Andrews Forest migrate to areas of Mexico around the Yucatan Peninsula. Finally, Hankyu has studied terrestrial breeding bird population change in South Korea, linking their population dynamics with large-scale land-use change and climate change in the past two decades. Hankyu is a PhD student in OSU’s Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society, working with Matt Betts and Brenda McComb.

migration map of a hermit warbler
One of the Hermit Warblers banded at the Andrews Forest moved through a round-trip route of 6,475 miles, or 10,422 km (5,446 km in fall, 4,976 km in spring). The fall migration took approximately 3 months. Spring migration took approximately 50 days. The birds race toward breeding grounds in spring, moving about 100km per day on average, but during fall, the migration route is longer and slower as the birds need to molt their feathers on the early part of their migration.

 

Thesis Defense: Stephen Calkins. Hemlock Dwarf Mistletoe. July 24

Event Date: 
Friday, July 24, 2020
Event Brief Description: 
Stephen Calkins M.S. Defense on Friday, July 24 at 9:00 AM via Zoom. 
 
Stephen will present his thesis, “Transformation of Western Hemlock Tree Crowns by Dwarf Mistletoe”.  Stephen is pursuing his graduate degree in Sustainable Forest Management with major professor, Dr. Dave Shaw.
 
 To participate, please contact Stephen for Zoom details.
 
To see images of Stephen and his field work at the Andrews Forest, see the Dwarf Mistletoe Survey 2019 image gallery. 

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