Conducting and supporting quality avian research and monitoring are central to the mission 
of the Avian Science Center.
Numerous legal mandates and conservation initiatives include monitoring as an essential component of the adaptive management process, which involves periodic evaluation of land-use effects and policies. Not coincidentally, birds have emerged as one of the most effective biological monitoring tools available. Understanding bird habitat relaionships through monitoring offers useful information for adaptive management.
Additionally, in North America, recent analyses indicate that many bird species have experienced population declines, causing concern and a desire to learn more about the seriousness and possible causes of these declines. Through our collaborative monitoring efforts, we hope to help document avian population trends and monitor the effects of land management activities within the state of Montana and the region.
The Northern Region Landbird Monitoring Program is our longest running program, through which we continue to initiate a number of different monitoring studies. An ongoing challenge is to help develop a statewide Coordinated Bird Monitoring Program. This is an effort to facilitate and conduct "all-bird" monitoring in Montana, and we are very excited about this collaborative work.
Our Research Program currently consists of a study of the effects of forest fire on bird communities, a study of distribution of riparian birds along the Madison/Missouri River system, a study of the use of birds as indicators of the biological integrity of wetlands, and a study of the winter ecology of riparian birds in Sonora, Mexico.
For information on the research programs of other Avian Science Center faculty collaborators, see Faculty Collaborators.
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