Grisley, Kerry M.Sc. - Advisor: Prof. T.D. Nudds

BIRD ABUNDANCE, AGRICULTURAL LAND USE, AND A NEW POLICY TO INCREASE PERMANENT COVER ON THE CANADIAN PRAIRIES

I examined 25 years of Breeding Bird Survey and agricultural land-use at a prairie-wide scale to see if spatial variation in community attributes (e.g. richness, evenness) and/or in abundances of 59 bird species were correlated with the spatial extent of cultivated matrix. I also examined, over a series of locations, whether temporal trends in species abundance (23 species) were correlated with either the extent of cultivated matrix, or with temporal changes in human disturbance (i.e., increases in cultivated area, wooded area, or livestock density). Abundances of 6 species were spatially correlated with cultivation intensity (3 negatively). Temporal trends in abundance of 12 species were correlated spatially with varying human disturbance (7 negatively).

I designed a flexible, market-oriented agricultural policy (based on tradeable permits) that encourages wildlife habitat restoration, gives notice of all land-use changes before they occur, and thus provides an opportunity for future ecological experiments in a management-by-experiment framework.