Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program: Minnesota
Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources

Golden-winged warblers are a specie of conservation concern, and have experienced dramatic population declines in the eastern portion of their breeding distribution. However, little is known about their population ecology in the western portion of their distribution, where the majority of the breeding population now occurs. We evaluated population ecology of golden-winged warblers in the core of their current breeding distribution to (1) compare golden-winged warbler reproductive success (nest productivity and juvenile survival) between two main breeding habitat types, (2) compare adult golden-winged warbler survival and habitat use during the nesting and post-fledging period between two main breeding habitat types, (3) use habitat characteristics to build a predictive model of golden-winged warbler reproductive success to provide management recommendations for maximizing high quality golden-winged warbler habitat, (4) replicate the study at 3 locations across a climate change gradient over 2 years to include critical spatial and temporal variation in analyses, maximizing the inference of results and applicability of management recommendations, and (5) combine demographic data with models of predicted climate change for the western Great Lakes region to predict climate-change effects on golden-winged warbler population viability.