SENR Seminar Series - MS Lightning Talks

The School of Environment and Natural Resources welcomes MS students Alaina McLaughlin and Luz Mercado Callau who will present Lightning Talks.

Post-fledging ecology of juvenile American Kestrels in central Ohio: Developing recommendations for optimal nest box placement based on habitat selection
Presenter: Alaina McLaughlin
About the talk:  The decline of the American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) is a significant conservation issue in North America, particularly in agricultural regions like Ohio where habitat fragmentation and land-use change have intensified. Although breeding adults are often the focus of kestrel monitoring efforts, juvenile survival during the post-fledging period may be a more critical bottleneck influencing population viability. We monitored populations of kestrels nesting near Motus towers in central Ohio and applied Lotek nanotags to 40 near-fledging-age juveniles. Birds tagged within range of a functioning Motus tower were detected multiple times per day until they dispersed or died. In addition, we used a hand-held receiver to manually search for each bird every three days at a minimum. We recorded land cover variables at each kestrel location using standardized vegetation sampling methods and compared them to randomly generated control points. We found that most juveniles stayed within 0.5 km of their natal nest in the first weeks after fledging and often kept company with siblings and other young kestrels. Understanding how specific environmental features predict fledgling success advances our knowledge of kestrel life-history strategies during a vulnerable developmental stage. These insights will strengthen scientific understanding of kestrel post-fledging ecology while informing conservation practice by guiding nest box placement toward landscapes most likely to support these young raptors.

Understanding the composition and structure of bird communities across habitat and land-use gradients to inform sustainable, bird-friendly cattle ranching in the Beni Savannas of Bolivia
Presenter: Luz Mercado Callau 
About the talk:  Savannas and grasslands are biodiversity-rich ecosystems that provide essential ecological services but are increasingly threatened by agricultural expansion and unsustainable land-use practices. In Bolivia’s Beni Savanna, extensive cattle ranching dominates the landscape, yet the ecological effects of various grazing management strategies remain poorly understood. As sustainable ranching initiatives emerge, scientific evidence is needed to develop sustainable livestock systems that provide ecological services to native flora and fauna. The objective of this research is to evaluate how land management approaches and livestock removal affects bird community diversity, composition, and functional traits across savanna habitat types. This study uses structured bird and vegetation surveys over two years across a total of 120 sampling plots in the Beni Savanna covering four key savanna habitat types (Cerrado, Cerradão, Campo Sujo, and Campo Limpo) arranged across three land management regimes: conservation set-aside, traditional grazing, and rotational grazing. This research will contribute to ecological theory on land-use effects in tropical savannas by linking species and trait-based diversity with grazing systems and vegetation structure. By identifying practical bird-based monitoring tools, this research is directly supporting conservation and sustainable land-use planning in the region.