Conservation Value of Residential Landscapes for Native Bird Communities

Susannah B. Lerman, a PhD student in OEB, studies the impacts of urbanization on bird communities and the conservation value of residential landscapes. Urbanization has become recognized as one of the greatest threats to biodiversity throughout the world. Bird communities are becoming increasingly homogenized, and numerous observational studies have demonstrated high densities but low diversity in urban areas. Urban development alters the natural landscape and results in a variety of residential landscape designs and vegetation structures. However, certain residential landscape designs may include key features of native habitats and provide mini refugia within urban areas, enabling the persistence of a natural bird community. Furthermore, residential landscapes represent a large percentage of urban areas and have the potential to provide important habitat for native wildlife. Susannah's research is designed to uncover the patterns and processes of bird response to variation in residential landscape design. She quantifies the landscape by conducting habitat inventories and conducts bird foraging experiments in residential yards. By conducting research within residential landscapes, she is determining how to create urban landscapes that benefit native wildlife and encourage opportunities for positive human-wildlife interactions, which is critical to the long-term conservation of natural communities.

Contact Susannah