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conferenceseries LLC Ltd
3rd International Conference on
3rd International Conference on
Ecology, Ecosystem and Conservation Biology
Microbial Ecology & Eco Systems
&
March 18-19, 2019 | Chicago, USA
Find More Information @ MARCH 2019 Conference Series LLC Ltd
A study of Avian
biodiversity changes
after habitat
restoration – Anovel
approach using remote
sensing and ebird
observation data
Ashwin Sivakumar1 , Joe Liebezeit2 , and Jared
Kinnear 3
1Flintridge Preparatory School, La
Canada-Flintridge, USA
2 Audubon Society of Portland, USA
3Clean Water Services, Forest
Grove, USA
During the last two centuries,
the contiguous United
States has lost over half of its
wetland habitats. Restoration
of wetland habitats is critical
for improving the health and
diversity of wildlife populations.
Fernhill Wetlands in Forest
Grove, Oregon is a natural
wastewater treatment site
that was transformed from
unused wastewater ponds to
a complex natural wetland
habitat in 2014-15. This study
aimed to assess the avian
biodiversity change after habitat
restoration at Fernhill Wetlands
by developing a novel and
reusable technique combining
remote sensing satellite imagery
and geospatial climate data
and performing quantitative
correlations to community
science bird observation data.
LANDSAT-8 and SENTINEL-2
satellite imagery and PRISM
climate data were processed
in the cloud using Google
Earth Engine and vegetation,
water and climate indices
for pre- and post-restoration
periods were calculated.
Quantitative correlations
were then established in R
between these indices and
bird observation data from
the Cornell University’s eBird
database. Finally, supervised
classification was used to obtain
clarity on land, vegetation and
water changes in the region of
interest. Several terrestrial and
deep-water species correlated
well with vegetation and water
indices. Shorebirds, marsh birds
and others at the water’s edge
showed subtler and sometimes
unexpected reactions to habitat
change. The technique also
revealed differences not seen in
conventional analyses such as
the response of dabbling ducks.
A powerful methodology was
developed to study the impact
of habitat restoration on Avian
populations combining remote
sensing and bird observation
data. It showed that the habitat
restoration had a positive
impact on several species, while
also revealing interesting and
unexpected effects on others. It
is expected that the technique
will be very useful for ongoing
habitat management by wetland
managers.
Biography
Ashwin Sivakumar is a student
at Flintridge Preparatory School
in La Canada-Flintridge, CA. He
has been an active birder since
childhood and is extremely
interested in ornithology,
ecology, conservation, and
evolutionary biology. Having
lived on the Pacific Flyway of
North America, he has always
been interested in observing
the birds as they migrate and
has had the joy of participating
in pelagic trips off the coast of
Oregon to observe albatrosses
and jaegers. A few years ago, he
traveled with his family to the
Osa Peninsula in Costa Rica and
added more than 100 species to
his life bird list.
POSTERS PRESENTATIONS | DAY 2 JOURNAL OF ECOSYSTEM& ECOGRAPHY 2019, VOLUME 9 | DOI: 10.4172/2157-7625-C1-045