Unique Presentation Identifier:
23
Program Type
Graduate
Faculty Advisor
Dr. Chris Kellner
Document Type
Poster
Location
Face-to-face
Start Date
9-4-2026 1:00 PM
End Date
9-4-2026 3:00 PM
Abstract
Avian species are often used to measure the health of an ecosystem, in part because the specific forest structure can significantly impact the avian community. A heterogeneous landscape can support a more diverse avian community and benefit specialist species like the Cerulean Warbler (Setophaga cerulea), a rapidly declining, neotropical migrant that can be found in large deciduous forests. The Ozark Mountains of northwestern Arkansas represent a small core area for the species, but at all sites in the upland Ozarks where Cerulean Warbler research has been conducted, there are fewer individuals than there were twenty years ago; some sites have no breeding Cerulean Warblers anymore. Yet, only a small subset of sites experienced commercial or silviculture harvest or other direct anthropogenic changes. In an effort to explore reasons for the decline, we measured and compared forest structure at three Cerulean Warbler use types: currently occupied, historically occupied, and never known to be occupied. In addition, we performed avian point counts at each use type to examine how the rest of the avian community differs, along with the forest characteristics.
Preliminary results show that the Shannon diversity indices for both forest (H=4.003, df=2, p=0.135) and avian communities (H=2.857, df=2, p=0.240) were not statistically different between use types. We also examined the Non-Metric Multidimensional Scaling ordination for both the avian community composition and Forest structure. Both the bird diversity and the habitat characteristics measured at the current study sites are very similar, as there is substantial overlap between each Use type. However, there is some slight separation, especially from the “Never” used sites. Upcoming fieldwork will expand sampling in more areas with Cerulean Warblers and increase the number of “Historic” and “Never” used sites, in an effort to increase our sample size and better represent the upland Ozarks in Arkansas.
Recommended Citation
Kohler, Dustin, "Forest Characteristics and Avian Community Differences Among Cerulean Warblers (Setophaga cerulea) Use Types" (2026). ATU Scholars Symposium. 48.
https://orc.library.atu.edu/atu_rs/2026/2026/48
Forest Characteristics and Avian Community Differences Among Cerulean Warblers (Setophaga cerulea) Use Types
Face-to-face
Avian species are often used to measure the health of an ecosystem, in part because the specific forest structure can significantly impact the avian community. A heterogeneous landscape can support a more diverse avian community and benefit specialist species like the Cerulean Warbler (Setophaga cerulea), a rapidly declining, neotropical migrant that can be found in large deciduous forests. The Ozark Mountains of northwestern Arkansas represent a small core area for the species, but at all sites in the upland Ozarks where Cerulean Warbler research has been conducted, there are fewer individuals than there were twenty years ago; some sites have no breeding Cerulean Warblers anymore. Yet, only a small subset of sites experienced commercial or silviculture harvest or other direct anthropogenic changes. In an effort to explore reasons for the decline, we measured and compared forest structure at three Cerulean Warbler use types: currently occupied, historically occupied, and never known to be occupied. In addition, we performed avian point counts at each use type to examine how the rest of the avian community differs, along with the forest characteristics.
Preliminary results show that the Shannon diversity indices for both forest (H=4.003, df=2, p=0.135) and avian communities (H=2.857, df=2, p=0.240) were not statistically different between use types. We also examined the Non-Metric Multidimensional Scaling ordination for both the avian community composition and Forest structure. Both the bird diversity and the habitat characteristics measured at the current study sites are very similar, as there is substantial overlap between each Use type. However, there is some slight separation, especially from the “Never” used sites. Upcoming fieldwork will expand sampling in more areas with Cerulean Warblers and increase the number of “Historic” and “Never” used sites, in an effort to increase our sample size and better represent the upland Ozarks in Arkansas.