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SUMMARY:Where You Live Matters: Extreme Weather Conditions Amplify Territor
 y Quality Effects on Island Bird Reproduction
LOCATION:Yates 208
TZID:America/Denver
DTSTART:20250507T093000
UID:2026-05-11-21-03-00@natsci.colostate.edu
DTSTAMP:20260511T210300
Description:We are pleased to invite you to join us for the MS Defense Semi
 nar of Hannah Horowitz\, titled\, \"Where You Live Matters: Extreme Weathe
 r Conditions Amplify Territory Quality Effects on Island Bird Reproduction
 \"\n\nDate: Wednesday\, May 7\, 2025\nTime: 9:30 – 10:30 AM MST\nLocatio
 n: Yates 208\, Colorado State University\nZoom link: Join via Zoom\n\n 	Me
 eting ID: 955 8166 1774\n 	Passcode: jay\n\nHannah\\'s research explores h
 ow variation in territory quality and extreme weather conditions influence
  the reproductive success of the Island Scrub-jay (Aphelocoma insularis)\,
  a species endemic to Santa Cruz Island\, California. Using a 16-year data
 set\, her work demonstrates that extreme drought and heat have the greates
 t negative impact on birds occupying lower-quality habitats\, whereas cool
 er\, wetter years can enhance reproductive success across the population.\
 n\nThis seminar will be of interest to anyone curious about avian ecology\
 , conservation\, or the intersection of climate change and species persist
 ence.\n\nHannah is a Master\\'s candidate in the Graduate Degree Program i
 n Ecology at Colorado State University\, advised by Dr. Jennifer Neuwald a
 nd Dr. Cameron Ghalambor.\n\nWe hope you’ll attend and support her as sh
 e presents this important work.\n\nAbstract\n\n\"Aspects of territory qual
 ity and environmental variation (e.g. rainfall\, temperature) are key pred
 ictors of reproductive success in birds. However\, the interaction between
  variation in territory quality and extreme weather events on reproduction
  has seldom been explored. The Island Scrub-jay (Aphelocoma insularis)\,
  a species endemic to Santa Cruz Island\, California\, is a highly territo
 rial species where breeding pairs maintain year-round territories that v
 ary in vegetation composition and structure. Using a 16-year dataset\, we 
 examined how physical metrics of territory quality and extreme weather con
 ditions affect reproductive output. We found that high-quality territories
  are characterized by more chaparral/woodland habitat\, while low-quality 
 territories have a higher proportion of scrub habitat. In addition\, durin
 g drought and abnormally hot years\, pairs in lower-quality territories e
 xperienced significantly reduced reproductive output\, often failing to fl
 edge any young at all. Conversely\, years of high rainfall and cooler tem
 peratures had a uniformly positive effect\, boosting reproductive output f
 or all breeding individuals regardless of territory quality\, likely due 
 to increased resource availability. Our findings highlight the importance
  of how variance in territory quality interacts with drought and high tem
 peratures to disproportionately reduce reproductive output within poor q
 uality territories\, but also how wet\, cool years can buffer populations
  by facilitating reproductive success across all territories. As droughts
  and extreme heat are projected to become more frequent\, severe\, and pro
 longed under future climate change scenarios\, the reproductive variance a
 mong breeding pairs risks reducing the effective population size of this a
 lready vulnerable\, range-restricted species. This study emphasizes the im
 portance of quantifying variation in territory quality and protecting stru
 cturally diverse\, high quality habitat types as they may play an outsized
  role in long-term persistence of territorial species amidst increasing c
 limatic stress.\"\n\n 9:30 am
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