Fellow
Steven Brady
2010 Hixon Fellow

Polluted waters: the impacts of runoff on ephemeral wetlands across an urban gradient
Anthropogenic development leads to the conversion of native habitat, resulting in landscapes characterized by a mosaic of agricultural fields, human settlement, and forest. A large body of research documents the negative consequences of habitat conversion on native wildlife. However, recent studies suggest that some species may respond positively to human dominated landscapes. This study looks at how wetland dependent birds respond to habitat conversion by investigating their distribution across three classes of land cover: urban/suburban, agricultural, and forested.