Indoor Program – Dr. Andrea Townsend – How Will Climate Change Affect Warblers?: A Case Study Using Black-throated Blue Warblers

Dr. Townsend will describe general warbler behavior patterns that have been observed linking climate change to their behavior, fitness, and population trends.  Based on a 25-year mark and recapture study, and using climate data from the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in New Hampshire, she will also specifically present results of her own work with Black-throated Blue Warblers, Setophaga caerulescens. Dr. Townsend and her fellow researchers assessed the effects of spring temperature (i.e., local weather) and the El Niño Southern Oscillation index (a global climate cycle) on the fecundity and population growth of Black-throated Blue Warblers. They found that local and global climatic conditions affected warbler populations in different—and sometimes unexpected—ways.