S H AY LY N N PA C K
FOREST FRAGMENT A nest of eggs of a Tawny-crested Tanager (Tachyphonus delatrii) is a rare find this summer in a tropical forest in Costa Rica, where bird populations are declining. Tulane ecology and evolutionary biology graduate students under the direction of professor Thomas Sherry are trying to figure out why tropical forest bird populations are dwindling in Central America and globally. They mainly are studying insect-feeding birds such as the Chestnut-backed Antbird (Myrmeciza exsul) (above), looking at the phenomenon from different angles. “Tropical forest loss and fragmentation— the breaking up of once continuous forest into small fragments—are having devastating effects on tropical birds,” says Sherry. He and his students have identified predators such as ocelots at the nests, and they have undertaken genetics evaluations to show that these tropical birds can hardly fly to and from forest fragments, causing them to be isolated. The researchers also are exploring how peccaries or wild pigs have altered vegetation that the birds need for nesting and feeding.
Park View On the cover: Houses on Exposition Boulevard line an Audubon Park sidewalk. Illustration by Errol Barron.
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