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Restoration of tropical pastures and their use by resident and migrant birds.
Principle Investigators: Lindell, C., K. Holl, and
Z. Zahawi
Research update
Summary
Much tropical land that has been deforested for agriculture is subsequently abandoned when soil fertility diminishes or when it becomes unprofitable to continue growing crops. Developing effective and economical forest restoration strategies for such land is of critical importance. In 2004, in collaboration with colleagues Dr. Karen Holl of the University of California at Santa Cruz and Dr. Zak Zahawi of the Organization for Tropical Studies, Dr. Lindell began investigating how birds respond to the restoration of abandoned cattle pastures in southern Costa Rica. The experimental design involves three treatments on 1-hectare sites: 1) plots that were planted with seedlings in rows, plantation-style, 2) plots that were planted with islands of seedlings, and 3) plots that were not planted and that serve as controls. The sites are surrounded by varying amounts of forest. While Holl and Zahawi focus on determining which treatment leads to forest restoration most quickly and how the amount of forest in the landscape influences the restoration process, Lindell will investigate how the numbers and types of birds species using the sites are influenced by the treatments and the surrounding landscape. MSU graduate student Emily Morrison is investigating the value of the different treatments as habitat for birds by quantifying their foraging success in the plots. We plan to continue the study for twenty years, an unusually long time horizon for restoration studies. Preliminary results suggest that the restoration sites in highly deforested landscapes are more valuable as bird habitat than those in more forested landscapes. Funding for the project has been provided by the Earthwatch Institute, the National Science Foundation, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
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The Center for Global Change & Earth Observations, Michigan
State University
218 Manly Miles Building, 1405 S. Harrison Road, East
Lansing, Michigan 48823, Phone: (517) 432-7774 |
