Biodiversity in the steep, arid mountains of Southern California is highly structured: there are distinct plant and animal communities in the upland forests and narrow riparian corridors. We are developing monitoring efforts in both ecotypes to support conservation efforts for a range of at-risk bird species.
In forests, understanding the distribution of the Spotted Owl is a top priority. The Southern California-Coastal population segment of the California Spotted Owl is likely to be listed as Endangered under the Endangered Species Act, based in part on findings that one of the presumed strongholds of this population has declined by over 50% over the last 30 years. Little is known about the owl outside of several long-term monitoring areas, which challenges both owl conservation and the implementation of urgently needed forest restoration to reduce the risk of large, severe fires. Drawing on the lessons learned in the Sierra Nevada, we are developing a landscape-scale passive acoustic monitoring project across the four Southern California National Forests to meet critical information needs for stakeholders and titleholders.
Riparian areas in Southern California are under immense pressure from climate change (drought), fire, invasive species, and the needs of the massive population of greater Los Angeles. Point counts have been conducted sporadically throughout Southern California riparian areas, but there is no statistically powerful and easy-to-implement biodiversity survey protocol. We are meeting that need by developing a scalable passive acoustic survey protocol. At present, focal species include the Willow Flycatcher and Least Bell’s Vireo.
As in the Sierra Nevada, this project hinges on the BirdNET algorithm, which was developed by my colleague Dr. Stefan Kahl. We work closely with the U.S. Forest Service Region 5 and hopefully the Tribal community to co-develop research questions to maximize the conservation impacts of our work; as on the Sierra Nevada project, we also work closely with Dr. Zach Peery’s Lab at the University of Wisconsin – Madison.
Connor M. Wood 