Caren B. Cooper

Citizen Science: A Developing Tool for Expanding Science Knowledge and Scientific Literacy

Citizen science enlists the public in collecting large quantities of data across an array of habitats and locations over long spans of time. Citizen science projects have been remarkably successful in advancing scientific knowledge, and contributions from citizen scientists now provide a vast quantity of data about species occurrence and distribution around the world. Most citizen science projects also strive to help participants learn about the organisms they are observing and to experience the process by which scientific investigations are conducted. Developing and implementing public data-collection projects that yield both scientific and educational outcomes requires significant effort. This article describes the model for building and operating citizen science projects that has evolved at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology over the past two decades. We hope that our model will inform the fields of biodiversity monitoring, biological research, and science education while providing a window into the culture of citizen science.

The design of artificial nestboxes for the study of secondary hole-nesting birds: a review of methodological inconsistencies and potential biases

Abstract. The widespread use of artificial nestboxes has led to significant advances in our knowledge of the ecology, behaviour and physiology of cavity nesting birds, especially small passerines. Nestboxes have made it easier to perform routine monitoring and experimental manipulation of eggs or nestlings, and also repeatedly to capture, identify and manipulate the parents. However, when comparing results across study sites the use of nestboxes may also introduce a potentially significant confounding variable in the form of differences in nestbox design amongst studies, such as their physical dimensions, placement height, and the way in which they are constructed and maintained. However, the use of nestboxes may also introduce an unconsidered and potentially significant confounding variable due to differences in nestbox design amongst studies, such as their physical dimensions, placement height, and the way in which they are constructed and maintained. Here we review to what extent the characteristics of artificial nestboxes (e.g. size, shape, construction material, colour) are documented in the ‘methods’ sections of publications involving hole-nesting passerine birds using natural or excavated cavities or artificial nestboxes for reproduction and roosting. Despite explicit previous recommendations that authors describe in detail the characteristics of the nestboxes used, we found that the description of nestbox characteristics in most recent publications remains poor and insufficient. We therefore list the types of descriptive data that should be included in the methods sections of relevant manuscripts and justify this by discussing how variation in nestbox characteristics can affect or confound conclusions from nestbox studies. We also propose several recommendations to improve the reliability and usefulness of research based on long-term studies of any secondary hole-nesting species using artificial nestboxes for breeding or roosting.

A framework to assess evolutionary responses to anthropogenic light and sound

Human activities have caused a near-ubiquitous and evolutionarily-unprecedented increase in environmental sound levels and artificial night lighting. These stimuli reorganize communities by interfering with species-specific perception of time-cues, habitat features, and auditory and visual signals. Rapid evolutionary changes could occur in response to light and noise, given their magnitude, geographical extent, and degree to which they represent unprecedented environmental conditions. We present a framework for investigating anthropogenic light and noise as agents of selection, and as drivers of other evolutionary processes, to influence a range of behavioral and physiological traits such as phenological characters and sensory and signaling systems. In this context, opportunities abound for understanding contemporary and rapid evolution in response to human-caused environmental change.

New software for quantifying incubation behavior from time-series recordings

Abstract Recordings of temperature fluctuations in the nests of birds can be used to infer incubation behavior such as the frequency and duration of off-bouts. Until recently, collecting temperature recordings from a large number of nests was limited by the size and expense of data logger equipment. In this paper, we describe software we developed to help simplify the analysis of recordings of temperature or mass fluctuations over time. The software program, called Rhythm, works in conjunction with Raven, a bioacoustical analysis program, to partially automate the measurement of incubation off-bout duration and related statistics such as percent constancy. This novel application of Raven combined with advances in data logger technology facilitates investigation in several areas of ecological and behavioral research.

The ecological basis of sensitivity of brown treecreepers to habitat fragmentation: a preliminary assessment

We attempted to identify the mechanisms responsible for adverse effects of habitat fragmentation on brown treecreepers (Climacteris picumnus) inhabiting eucalyptus woodland in northeastern New South Wales, Australia by comparing demography and foraging ecology of birds in highly fragmented and relatively unfragmented landscapes. In particular, we investigated three possibilities, disrupted dispersal due to patch isolation, reduced fecundity due to elevated nest predation, and reduced food availability due to habitat degradation. Nesting success was high in both highly fragmented and less fragmented habitat. Of first nests, 88% were successful, and 60% of successful groups attempted a second brood. However, there were many more groups in the more fragmented habitat than in the less fragmented habitat that lacked a female for most or all of the breeding season, and thus did not attempt nesting (64% vs 13%). In both the more fragmented and the less fragmented habitat, both males and females spent about 70% of their time foraging and 65% of their foraging time on the ground. We reject reduced fecundity in fragmented habitat as an explanation of adverse effects of habitat fragmentation on brown treecreepers. Thus sensitivity to habitat fragmentation has a different basis for this species in this landscape than that suggested for Nearctic-Neotropical migrants in eastern North America. We also reject the possibility of reduced food availability in fragmented habitat. Our data support disrupted dispersal as a likely explanation for the decline of brown treecreepers in fragmented habitat. However, we can not rule out forms of habitat degradation other than reduced food availability.

The Invisible Prevalence of Citizen Science in Global Research: Migratory Birds and Climate Change

Citizen science is a research practice that relies on public contributions of data. The strong recognition of its educational value combined with the need for novel methods to handle subsequent large and complex data sets raises the question: Is citizen science effective at science? A quantitative assessment of the contributions of citizen science for its core purpose – scientific research – is lacking. We examined the contribution of citizen science to a review paper by ornithologists in which they formulated ten central claims about the impact of climate change on avian migration. Citizen science was never explicitly mentioned in the review article. For each of the claims, these ornithologists scored their opinions about the amount of research effort invested in each claim and how strongly the claim was supported by evidence. This allowed us to also determine whether their trust in claims was, unwittingly or not, related to the degree to which the claims relied primarily on data generated by citizen scientists. We found that papers based on citizen science constituted between 24 and 77% of the references backing each claim, with no evidence of a mistrust of claims that relied heavily on citizen-science data. We reveal that many of these papers may not easily be recognized as drawing upon volunteer contributions, as the search terms “citizen science” and “volunteer” would have overlooked the majority of the studies that back the ten claims about birds and climate change. Our results suggest that the significance of citizen science to global research, an endeavor that is reliant on long-term information at large spatial scales, might be far greater than is readily perceived. To better understand and track the contributions of citizen science in the future, we urge researchers to use the keyword “citizen science” in papers that draw on efforts of non-professionals.

Elevational trends in life histories: revising the pace-of-life framework.

Life‐history traits in birds, such as lifespan, age at maturity, and rate of reproduction, vary across environments and in combinations imposed by trade‐offs and limitations of physiological mechanisms. A plethora of studies have described the diversity of traits and hypothesized selection pressures shaping components of the survival–reproduction trade‐off. Life‐history variation appears to fall along a slow–fast continuum, with slow pace characterized by higher investment in survival over reproduction and fast pace characterized by higher investment in reproduction over survival. The Pace‐of‐Life Syndrome (POLS) is a framework to describe the slow–fast axis of variation in life‐history traits and physiological traits. The POLS corresponds to latitudinal gradients, with tropical birds exhibiting a slow pace of life. We examined four possible ways that the traits of high‐elevation birds might correspond to the POLS continuum: (i) rapid pace, (ii) tropical slow pace, (iii) novel elevational pace, or (iv) constrained pace. Recent studies reveal that birds breeding at high elevations in temperate zones exhibit a combination of traits creating a unique elevational pace of life with a central trade‐off similar to a slow pace but physiological trade‐offs more similar to a fast pace. A paucity of studies prevents consideration of the possibility of a constrained pace of life. We propose extending the POLS framework to include trait variation of elevational clines to help to investigate complexity in global geographic patterns.

CAN WE IMPROVE ESTIMATES OF JUVENILE DISPERSAL DISTANCE AND SURVIVAL

Estimates of distributions of natal dispersal distances and juvenile recruitment rates in open populations are strongly influenced by the extent and shape of the areas sampled. Techniques to improve biased dispersal and survival estimates include area-ratio methods based on weighting observations by sampling effort, the extent and shape of the area sampled, and the amount and distribution of preferred habitat surrounding the area sampled. We partitioned territories within the boundaries of a large, almost geographically closed, population of individually marked Red-cockaded Woodpeckers (Picoides borealis) and estimated dispersal and survival parameters from hypothetical smaller study areas (sampling areas) of varying sizes and shapes in order to examine whether an area-ratio method provides accurate or improved estimates of juvenile dispersal distance and survival. Non-aggregated sampling areas resulted in the detection of fewer dispersal events, but because of their large spatial extent, produced unbiased dispersal estimates. The use of aggregated sampling areas (circular or linear) resulted in the detection of higher numbers of dispersal events, but produced biased dispersal estimates that were generally improved by the area-ratio method. Area-ratio corrections usually provided better estimates of median dispersal distance than uncorrected estimates. Survival to breeding was usually underestimated and often not improved by the area-ratio method, regardless of extent and shape of the sampling area. Estimates of juvenile survival to breeding were improved by assuming that rates of emigration were equivalent to immigration, and correcting survival estimates accordingly. Small, local studies should use an area-ratio method to improve their estimates of median dispersal distance. Because the correction method estimates relative, but not absolute, numbers of individuals dispersing across distance categories, the area-ratio method should not be used for estimating survival. Non-aggregated sampling areas may be an effective design to increase spatial extent (and thus decrease bias) without proportionately increasing the amount of habitat sampled.

Effects of remnant size and connectivity on the response of Brown Treecreepers to habitat fragmentation

Abstract We studied approximately 50 groups of the cooperatively breeding Brown Treecreeper (Climacteris picumnus) in connected and unconnected (isolated) woodland remnants in the New England Tablelands of northeastern New South Wales during 1996–98. Large and small, unconnected remnants were more likely to contain territories lacking females than were connected habitat remnants. Using General Linear Mixed Models to control for the non-independence of groups studied in the same remnants, we found that neither remnant size nor connectivity affected nest success rate, brood size, or fledgling production. Survival of females was lower in small remnants and greatest in large, unconnected remnants. Lower survival in small remnants suggests area-sensitivity, but this effect cannot explain patterns in recruitment of females because there was no shortage of females in small, connected remnants. We conclude that remnant connectivity influences dispersal success of Brown Treecreepers, with dispersal being disrupted when remnants are unconnected. Therefore, isolation-sensitivity, not area-sensitivity, is the primary basis of the species’ sensitivity to habitat fragmentation.

Media Literacy as a Key Strategy toward Improving Public Acceptance of Climate Change Science

Without public trust of climate change science, policymaking in a democratic society cannot address the serious threats that we face. Recent calls for proposals to increase “climate literacy” from federal agencies such as NASA, NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), and the National Science Foundation illustrate the urgency of this crisis. Although more climate change education is certainly needed, focusing solely on climate literacy will not garner public trust and may leave out high-impact media literacy education. Climate change deniers have been more effective “educators” than scientists and science educators because their messages are (a) empowering, built on the premise that every individual can quickly learn enough to enter public discourse on climate change; and (b) delivered through many forms of media. A more effective strategy for scientists and science educators should include not only discourse approaches that enable trust, with emphasis on empowerment through reasoning skills, but also approaches that embrace the maturing discipline of media literacy education.