Alabama Project
Socially mediated avian habitat selection
August 2023 - December 2025
Personnel
Participating Agencies
- Alabama Department of Conservation & Natural Resources
Habitat selection is a fundamental process influencing individual fitness, and understanding how animals select habitat is thus critical for developing effective conservation and management strategies. Recent evidence suggests that many wildlife species, and birds in particular, use social information as a cue in habitat selection, yet the mechanistic underpinnings of this behavior remain ambiguous. Our work focuses on developing sampling tools and using them to test hypotheses related to when, where, and why social information is important for habitat selection. This work is being conducted in collaboration with researchers from Auburn University, Oregon State University, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Our findings will help improve use of artificial social cues as a management tool to manipulate distributions of target species and improve conservation outcomes.
Presentations | Presentation Date |
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Valente, J.J. (2025). U.S. Geological Survey Cooperative Research Units: working together to address wildlife conservation issues. Auburn University Chapter of the Wildlife Society meeting, Auburn, AL. | February 2025 |
Hall, J.F., and J.J. Valente (2025). Improving soundscape research with a cost-effective device for studying environmental sound and wildlife behavior. U.S. Geological Survey Annual Cooperators Meeting, Auburn, AL. | April 2025 |
Hall, J.F., and J.J. Valente (2025). Bridging soundscape ecology and conservation: A new tool for manipulating and monitoring environmental sound in wildlife habitats. Alabama Chapter of the Wildlife Society annual meeting, Anniston, AL. | March 2025 |
Blake, K., J.F. Hall, L.K. Parvin, and J.J. Valente. (2025). Effects of habitat management on avian communities across Alabama's state lands: implications for targeted management using conspecific attraction. Auburn University Research Symposium, Auburn, AL. | March 2025 |
Blake, K., J.F. Hall, L.K. Parvin, and J.J. Valente (2025). Examining habitat selection mechanisms and changes in habitat use for breeding birds on Alabama’s wildlife management areas. Alabama Chapter of the Wildlife Society annual meeting, Anniston, AL. | March 2025 |