With an extendable pole fitted with a small camera, Alison Ke could get a clear view of the inside of a nest box, including one time when a small, green Pacific parrotlet laid eggs. Ke, who earned a Ph.D. in ecology from UC Davis, led a research project to find out how converting rainforest to farmland affects the habitat of birds who rely on tree holes, or cavities, for nesting.
to study birds around the Mache-Chindul Ecological Reserve, an area in northwest Ecuador that has experienced rapid deforestation and agricultural expansion in the past 50 years. Their study, published in the journal, found that nesting habitat seems to limit reproduction by cavity-nesting bird populations in tropical agriculture, but not in the forest.
"We'd stick the camera in, and we'd never know what to expect," Ke said."Every time it was something new; it was very exciting. And when eggs appeared but we didn't know what species it was, it was a like a mystery we got to solve." Daniel Karp, associate professor in the Department of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology at UC Davis and senior author of the paper, said another key finding from this project is the importance of leaving scattered trees and adding nest boxes to tropical agricultural lands. These actions would not only provide critical nesting habitat for birds but could also help farmers.
Eight cavity-nesting bird species were more abundant in agriculture, which included the house wren, dusky-capped flycatcher, and the Pacific parrotlet. The collared aracari—a kind of toucan—was the only cavity-nesting species that was more abundant in theA Pacific parrotlet looks up from its nest box in Ecuador. Credit: Alison Ke, UC DavisConnecting with the community
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