BAM 2020-2021 Annual Report

We are pleased to provide you with the 2020-21 BAM Annual Report, outlining BAM’s activities and collaborations during our previous year.

Among these accomplishments, you can read about:

Applications of our work through collaborations with over 35 different partners;
Efforts towards improved open access to avian data in Canada;
Canada-wide landbird density estimates for 143 species (national density maps & population size estimates);
Conservation planning projects to identify areas of high conservation value for boreal landbirds;
Continued efforts to apply our conceptual and analytical framework to identify critical habitat for wide-ranging species at risk;
Numerous regional studies evaluating and simulating the impacts of changes in climate, forest harvest, fire, caribou conservation, mining, and energy-sector development on boreal bird populations.

We thank our collaborators and partners for their continued support. Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions about this report.

New Publication: Assessing Pathways of Climate Change Effects in SpaDES: An Application to Boreal Landbirds of Northwest Territories Canada

The distributions of birds in Canada's northern forests are expected to be impacted by climate change, but it remains unclear which pathways are responsible for projected climate effects. This new paper, led by Tatiane Micheletti developed statistical and simulation models for boreal birds, wildfire, and forest growth using the SpaDES modelling framework. Point count data for bird models came from the BAM database and was supplemented by ARU data from WildTrax. The results demonstrate that most of the predicted changes in bird distributions were due to direct climate effects. Read more...

CITATION

Micheletti Tatiane, Stewart Frances E. C., Cumming Steven G., Haché Samuel, Stralberg Diana, Tremblay Junior A., Barros Ceres, Eddy Ian M. S., Chubaty Alex M., Leblond Mathieu, Pankratz Rhiannon F., Mahon C. L., Van Wilgenburg Steven L., Bayne Erin M., Schmiegelow Fiona, McIntire Eliot J. B. 2021. Assessing Pathways of Climate Change Effects in SpaDES: An Application to Boreal Landbirds of Northwest Territories Canada. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. 9, 654. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2021.679673

2019-2020 BAM Annual Report

BAM 2019-2020 Annual Report

We are pleased to provide you with the 2019-20 BAM Annual Report, outlining BAM’s activities and collaborations during our previous year. We apologize for the late release of this report resulting from unusual circumstances related to COVID-19. As you will see in this report, our partnerships, dedicated team, and incredible staff make it possible for us to achieve the many accomplishments reported here.

Among these accomplishments, you can read about:

New Canada-wide landbird density estimates for 143 species (national density maps & population size estimates);
New Canada-wide density models for 18 species of waterfowl that explicitly account for spatio-temporal variations in abundance;
Continued efforts to develop a Standard Operating Procedure to identify critical habitat for wide-ranging species at risk;
Numerous regional studies simulating the impacts of changes in climate, forest harvest, fire, caribou conservation, and energy-sector development on boreal bird populations;
Conservation planning scenarios to prioritize candidate areas for Canada Warbler conservation;
Efforts towards improved open access to avian data in Canada;
Applications of our work through collaborations with over 30 different partners.

New Publication: Response of birds to the effects of caribou conservation, harvest, fire, and energy-sector impacts

Webinar: Managed Forests for Birds in the Boreal Transition Region of the US and Canada

On June 3, 2020, the Boreal Avian Modelling Project in partnership with the SFI Conservation Team and the American Bird Conservancy (ABC) delivered an e-workshop on Managed Forests for Birds in the Boreal Transition Region of the US and Canada. The goal of the workshop was to engage forest management organizations and other interested parties in the Boreal Transition Zone of the Lake States and Ontario in the role of active forest management in bird conservation.

The objectives of this e-workshop were to:

Better understand the forest management practices, objectives, ownership patterns and other landscape factors in the study area;
Identify opportunities for forest management decisions to significantly influence bird habitat conditions;
Identify potential tools, products, training, and outreach materials to help inform forest management decisions;
Propose a collaborative framework for gaining and sharing scientifically-based knowledge about forest management effects on birds; and
Form a working group from forestry and conservation to address opportunities for birds of conservation concern.

BAM team member Andy Crosby is part of the team leading this co-produced research project. If you have management responsibility in the U.S. northern Lake States or northwest Ontario, Canada (Bird Conservation Region 12), this research project may be of particular interest to you. If you have avian point count data from this region, we would appreciate data contributions to support this work. Please contact us if you are interested in learning more about this project.

Publication: Prioritizing Areas for the Threatened Canada Warbler in Atlantic Canada

In February 2020, we published our work identifying priority regions for Canada Warbler conservation and forest management in BCR 14. We developed seven conservation planning scenarios to prioritize candidate areas for permanent land conservation or responsible forest management. We found that using low natal dispersal distance scenarios in decision-making offers a more conservative approach to maintaining Canada Warbler populations. This prioritization approach provides a toolkit for managers to immediately locate areas for implementing conservation and management actions. This work was published in Diversity and was a collaborative effort with Environment & Climate Change Canada (ECCC), and High Branch Conservation Services, with support from Nature Canada and the Canada Warbler International Conservation Initiative. Read more...