Research
PNW
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PNW Project Overview 2001
Understanding the Risk of Nest Predation to Marbled Murrelets in Managed Landscapes
Principal
Investigator:
Dr.
John
Marzluff, University of Washington, College of Forest Resources
Awarded: $25,890
Project
Description:
The US Fish and Wildlife Service has identified three possible
threats to the continued survival of the Marbled Murrelet: habitat loss, gill-net mortality, and increased nest
predation following fragmentation due to forestry.
Dr. Marzluff has completed seven years of research
designed to understand how forest management affects nest
predation on murrelets. This
project will continue internal and external testing of his
results to determine: (1) if increasing the amount of even-aged,
40-80-year-old forest in the landscape reduces predation in
remaining uneven-aged, older forest (that is used by murrelets
for nesting), and (2) how the risk of predation and likelihood
of nesting overlap in forested landscapes of varying structural
complexity, proximity to human activity, and fragmentation.
These objectives will be accomplished by a combination of
field observations of simulated murrelet nests, statistical
projection of the risk of nest predation across the Olympic
Peninsula forested landscape, and integration of nest predation
projections with models of murrelet nesting habitat needs that
were developed by state, federal, and private land managers.
Project Status:
2001
funds will be distributed to projects in September 2001.