Bryce T. Adams- Doctoral Scholarly Seminar

Please plan to attend Bryce T. Adams's doctoral scholarly seminar on Wed. April 4th, 2018 at 11:30am in 333 Kottman Hall.

He will be presenting Composition vs. Physiognomy of the Vegetation for the Species Composition of Faunal Assemblages.

Determining the factors the influence faunal resource use is important for sound conservation planning. The vegetative community of an area is of prime importance because it unmistakably functions as the physical habitat for other organisms. For several decades since MacArthur and MacArthur's landmark paper, vegetation structure has served as a strong generalizable framework for interpreting habitat use and the ecological separation of species. However, strong signals of shifting vegetation pressures and range-wide species-specific associations with specific plant species call attention to the composition of the vegetative community. Whether plant species composition provides an alternative or better basis for the species composition of faunal assemblages has been an ongoing debate. Newer statistical procedures have been developed to more directly address the debate, spurring a renaissance in the topic. I will review the debate's history and recent findings, focusing on the potential strengths and weaknesses associated with adopting either perspective in ecological research and the conservation of avian assemblages.