Reina Galvan, UW Masters Student

Department of Zoology and Physiology 

2024 Recipient of the Biodiversity Institute Graduate Student Excellence Grant

Advisor: Corey Tarwater

Recent work shows widespread declines of birds across North America. Although less studied, the tropics show a similar pattern, with widespread declines of birds being observed, even in protected habitats. While habitat changes are hypothesized to influence declines, we currently do not understand how habitat influences bird abundance and distribution. Given how rapidly tropical forests are changing, understanding how habitat influences bird populations and whether we can use species traits to generalize habitat-abundance relationships is critically important for predicting how communities will look in the future. The goal of the project is to examine how habitat heterogeneity and productivity influence avian diversity, and whether species behavioral and morphological traits are related to their abundance across habitats. With this work, we will have a better understanding of how continued changes in habitat will alter diversity in the most speciose region of the world.