Committee Chair

Aborn, David

Committee Member

Stumpf; Katie; Beasley, Deanna

Department

Dept. of Biological and Environmental Sciences

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Place of Publication

Chattanooga (Tenn.)

Abstract

Migration is one of the riskiest periods in a bird’s yearly cycle, and monitoring migratory trends helps us understand how birds are impacted by the changing world. Here, I present an analysis of 37 years of fall bird banding data collected at the Jekyll Island Banding Station in Georgia. Capture rates of Neotropical migrants on Jekyll have declined 50-90% in many common species, and the mean ordinal passage date of Gray Catbird and Western Palm Warbler have shifted 8 days later. Landcover analysis of the island yielded non-significant results; therefore, human-caused habitat change on breeding and wintering grounds are likely the primary drivers of lowered capture rates. Rising temperatures on breeding grounds are extending growing seasons and are suspected to be a primary driver influencing migration phenology trends. This research contributes to a growing body of work on Neotropical migrants and presents the first analysis of this dataset.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank my committee, Dr. David Aborn, Dr. Beanna Beasley, and Dr. Katie Stumpf, for all of their help and guidance as I have worked on this and many other projects. I would also like to thank all of my family and friends for their support through what has been the most difficult period of my life both academically and personally. I truly could not have completed this without all of you, and I am blessed to be surrounded by such a wonderful group of advisors, mentors, and friends

Degree

M. S.; A thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Science.

Date

5-2026

Subject

Animal phenology; Birds--Migration; Birds--Population dynamics

Keyword

Ornithology; bird migration; phenology; populations; decline; stopover

Document Type

Masters theses

DCMI Type

Text

Extent

xi, 45 leaves

Language

English

Rights

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

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