Research Programs

The Institute for Bird Populations is currently focusing on six major programs in order to accomplish its primary goals. Each of these projects trains and utilizes substantial numbers of "interns", biologists and other volunteers:

Each of these projects is briefly outlined on this page or you can click on the project name above to read about them in detail.

The MAPS Program

Created in 1989 and coordinated by The Institute for Bird Populations, MAPS is a cooperative effort among public agencies, private organizations, and individual bird banders across North America to operate a continent-wide network of now over 500 constant-effort mist netting stations for the long-term monitoring of the vital rates of more than 100 landbird species. These critical data are being used in conjunction with avian population trend data, station-specific and landscape-level habitat data, and spatially explicit weather data to formulate management actions and conservation strategies to reverse population declines in both year-round resident and migratory landbirds.

Sierra Nevada Research and Conservation Program

The Sierra Nevada has recently been identified as an ecoregion supporting globally outstanding biodiversity that currently faces critical threats. Problems include outdated land management practices that urgently need revision and rapid human population growth with associated land conversion and resource-use pressures. Established in 1998, the Institute's Sierra Nevada Program focuses on elucidating the habitat needs of Sierran landbird species, determining the effects of land management practices on avian population and community dynamics, and identifying management practices most compatible with maintaining viable avian populations and diverse avian communities.

Avian Inventory Program

Gathering baseline information on existing biological resources is a critical step in the formulation of long-term monitoring strategies. To help decide how to best allocate scarce resouces to avian monitoring efforts, land managers often require detailed information about the current diversity, distribution, and abundance of birds that depend on the lands they manage. Accordingly, IBP has established its Avian Inventory Program, which assists biologists and land managers overseeing national parks and other public lands by designing and implementing scientifcally sound avian inventory projects.

Neotropical Avian Ecology and Demography Program

Analysis of IBP's MAPS data suggest that population declines in some species of Neotropical migratory landbirds may be caused more by low survival on their tropical wintering grounds or during migration than by low productivity. Further results indicate that even their productivity is driven more by weather on their wintering grounds prior to spring migration than by weather on their breeding grounds. Large-scale, long-term data on habitat-specific annual and overwintering survival rates and late winter physical condition of both migratory and resident Neotropical birds are urgently needed to formulate and evaluate management strategies to modify and preserve tropical habitat so as to reverse the population declines of these species. To address these needs, The Institute is facilitating the development and implementation of the MoSI (Monitoreo de Sobrevivencia Invernal) Program, a cooperative effort among agencies, organizations, and individual bird-banders in Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean to operate a network of mist-netting stations to obtain these critical data.

Burrowing Owl Project

Established in 1996 in response to The Institute's 1991-1993 survey of breeding Burrowing Owls in California, this project aims to provide a scientific basis for the development of a state-wide conservation strategy for this declining species. Objectives include determining habitat-specific productivity, adult survival rates and population density from nest-monitoring and mark-resighting studies; estimating home range size and post-fledging survival and dispersal rates from radio-telemetry; determining contaminant loads from toxicological sampling; and involving the public in outreach activities to foster support and appreciation for the species and for conservation efforts in general.

Bird Populations Journal