David King

Current studies include the effects of habitat restoration on breeding prairie warblers, habitat-specific abundance and survival of wintering migrant songbirds in the Caribbean, Honduras and Belize, identifying area thresholds for breeding shrubland birds and native bees in gaps, migratory movements and stopover ecology of songbirds in the Gulf of Maine, forecasting the effects of climate change on spruce-fir birds, the effects of urbanization on forest birds, and developing market-based approaches for forest conservation in Latin America.

I have worked on the effects of forest management on mature forest birds, the ecology of shrubland birds in silvicultural openings, powerline corridors, beaver meadows and pitch pine-scrub oak barrens, the winter ecology of the endangered golden-cheeked and golden-winged warblers, habitat selection and habitat-specific survival of mature forest birds during the postfledging period, the value of agroforestry habitats for the conservation of wintering migrant songbirds, and the effects of habitat management on native bees.

My interests are in applied conservation research, including the effects of forest management, climate change, urbanization, habitat restoration and agroforestry on Neotropical migrants during breeding, migration and stopover, with an emphasis on full life cycle conservation. This multidisciplinary approach combines ecology, ornithology and conservation biology with advanced sampling, statistical and modeling techniques to evaluate the relationship between habitat conditions and stressors with the abundance and fitness of birds and other organisms.

Americans care for wildlife and wild places, and birds are a conspicuous component of our wildlife resource that attracts millions of bird watching enthusiasts annually. Many bird species are declining and require habitat management for their numbers to persist. This is particularly true of disturbance dependent species, the focus of much of my research. These populations are vulnerable at all stages of the annual cycle, and thus, my research includes study of the habitats needed for breeding, migration and over wintering. My research provides the knowledge and tools required by managers to conserve these species and the habitats they require.