A Tale of Two Woodpeckers: Soundscapes Reveal Divergent Responses to Forest Management in the Blue Mountains

 

 

 


On Monday, December 8, Ben Vernasco, Research Scientist & Adjunct Assistant Professor of Biology at Whitman College will discuss how Earth’s biodiversity is currently being transformed by the dramatic changes humans are imposing on the natural world. Passive acoustic monitoring is an emerging field of study that combines simple technologies, rapidly developing neural networks, and quantitative methodologies to measure soundscapes across broad geographic areas and document such changes in ecosystems around the world. In this talk, Professor Vernasco will share his collaborative efforts that combine passive acoustic monitoring, neural networks, remote sensing, and Bayesian hierarchical models to provide an unprecedented level of detail about the bird communities of the Blue Mountains. He will highlight how two ecologically contrasting woodpeckers—one thriving in dense, fire-suppressed forests and the other dependent on large, fire-maintained pines—reveal the legacy effects of nearly a century of timber harvest and fire suppression.

Bio: Dr. Ben Vernasco is an integrative organismal biologist who uses a suite of molecular, field, and quantitative techniques to understand the connections between different levels of biological organization. Through these efforts, Dr. Vernasco’s research reveals the adaptive nature of organismal phenotypes and the relationship between genetic and phenotypic variation. In collaboration with the US Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station, Dr. Vernasco also works with Whitman students to generate data- informed evidence that land managers can use to promote synergism between the various objectives that guide decision making on our nearby public lands.

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