I am a new grad student at the University of WA. Under the direction of
John Marzluff, I will attempt to understand how and why bird communities
change across metropolitan Seattle's urbanization gradient. In
particular, we are interested in:
1) how community composition changes
2) how rates of nest predation by crows change (could hint at why
community composition changes)
3) how crow breeding behavior changes.
The goal is to gain a better understanding of how urbanization effects
birds so that we can maintain the integrity of the bird communities in
urbanizing areas.

We are hoping to conduct this research on replicate blocks of native
forest that fit 3 size categories (.25-1 acre; 5-20 acres; 100-300 acres)
and 3 housing densities (urban; suburban; and rural). The latter size
class is relatively easy to choose. I am looking for help in
locating replicates of the 2 smaller size classes in each housing density.
If you have any suggestions or would like to find out more about the
project before making a suggestion, please send me an email. Please note
that forests with significant bird feeding activity may not be suitable.

One more plea for help. I have failed to secure the use of a field
vehicle for this spring/summer. While I am contacting dealerships to
inquire about use in exchange for advertisement (e.g. car door slogans
like Crow City research vehicle provided by...), I am not overly
optimistic. If anybody has any ideas or suggestions for dealerships to
contact, please pass those along as well.

Thanks for any help you can provide.


Sincerely,

Roarke Donnelly
University of Washington
Seattle, WA
roarked at u.washington.edu


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Roarke Donnelly

College of Forest Resources 206.543.8264 work
Div. of Ecosystem Science and Conservation 206.685.0790 FAX
University of Washington 206.283.6795 home
Box 352100
Seattle, WA 98195-2100
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