BIOL 488: An Analysis of Citizen Science Data to Examine Avian Population Declines near Farmville, Virginia

Since 1970, 29% of birds have been lost and 3 billion individual birds lost from the breeding population (Rotenberg, 2017). There have been 13 extinctions in the U.S. the past 50 years (IUCN red list). Biodiversity is declining all over the world at a faster rate than is natural (Inger et. al 2015). There are several reasons birds are declining: •Habitat loss •Urbanization •Climate change •Human activities such as house cats & technology (Rotenberg, 2017). Birds are very important in ecosystems and to humans. •Seed dispersers •Pest control •Pollinators (Yeoman, 2013). The greatest conservation concern is not about extinction, but population decline, where species only exist at very small scales compared to before (Briggs, 2017). Insect populations are also declining due to similar factors as well as pesticides, which could be a potential impact on birds (Rotenberg, 2019). Common species are often ignored and if these species decline, they will significantly impact the ecosystem (Hung, et al. 2014). Monitoring common species is essential for predicting population decline as well as acting quickly with conservation efforts.