BRAS Calendar

Presenter: Luke Powell

Date, time and place: 23-Feb-2012, 6:15pm, at the Bluebonnet Swamp Nature Center

Summary: Deforestation and climate change are changing the Amazon Rainforest at a frightening pace. Immediately after deforestation most former forests begin the gradual process of regrowth and recovery. Brazil alone has more secondary forest than all other tropical countries combined, yet we know little about the value of secondary growth for avian conservation. In this presentation, Luke will discuss ongoing and emerging threats to Amazon conservation, then provide examples of how biologists are working to determine the value of secondary growth to rainforest birds.There will be no shortage of pictures and natural history of the bird community in the Central Amazon.

REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED due to space constraints. Please send an email to Programs@braudubon.org to register.

Presenter: Richard Gibbons
When and where: Bluebonnet Nature Center, 29-March, 6:15pm

Many states in the USA have produced breeding bird atlases. These atlases are gridded maps of the respective regions that show the presence/absence of each species based on several years of sampling bird distribution on that grid. This information is valuable not only for applied sciences, such as conservation biology, but also basic sciences, such as biogeography. In 2007, the Louisiana Bird Resource Office initiated a project based on this basic theme, but was the first of its kind in two ways. First, it included a winter survey period as well as a summer survey period. Second, it incorporated a novel level of detail into the data, namely relative abundance rather than just presence/absence. This adds valuable texture to the atlas maps - one can see not only where a species occurs, but within its area of occurrence, where it reaches peak abundance. This information can be useful for land managers and regional wildlife-planners tasked with balancing development projects and wildlife impacts. It also provides valuable baseline data on populations that can be used to evaluate short-and long-term trends. Now in our sixth sampling periods for both the winter and summer atlas, the project has received more than 15,000 hours of volunteer effort by the best field observers in Louisiana. The results are impressive with many large swaths of Louisiana sampled and many surprising finds.

REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED due to space constraints. Please register by sending an email to Programs@braudubon.org