Farmland is tricky territory for wildlife and scientists alike. Oceans of corn or soybeans doused with herbicides and pesticides typically make for poor habitat. “No Trespassing” signs and scattered slivers of untamed nature are a logistical headache for researchers trying to gather enough data to see meaningful patterns.
But Adam Dixon, a conservation scientist for the World Wildlife Fund, found how to make headway in this difficult environment, harnessing recent technological advances to get a closer look at how birds in the heart of U.S. farm country are faring.
“What was impressive about Adam’s investigation was his willingness to employ novel technology and ideas to overcome what has historically been an absolute challenge in surveying working landscapes,” said Matthew Baker, an ecologist at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, where Dixon earned a PhD while doing the research.
The tools were tiny, cheap audio recorders, sound processing software, satellite imagery, and enough old-fashioned charm to win the cooperation of some Iowa farmers. “It’s difficult but not impossible to work on private lands,” says Dixon, who grew up in the Midwest. “You just need to build trust and relationships.”
To explore the ways birds use little pockets of un-plowed land, Dixon approached farmland owners with a request: Could they help him install microphone-equipped circuit boards smaller than a deck of cards in pockets of greenery at the edges of their fields? All told, he was able to retrieve data from 44 recorders, known as AudioMoths, at locations across the state.
During the summer of 2019, each device provided at least 95 1-minute recordings collected around sunrise, when many birds are most vocal. Using a computer program designed to comb through audio files in search of bird songs, Dixon heard 51 different bird species in the recordings. As many as 26 species were captured at a single location.
Source: anthropocenemagazine.org
Photo Credit: getty-images-elhenyo
Categories: Iowa, Crops, Corn, Soybeans