Although grassland bird populations have steadily declined, little research has examined the effect of oil infrastructure on abundances of grassland songbirds. Even less research has identified mechanisms that explain observed effects. To evaluate this, I sampled abundance of 5 songbird species at oil well sites with different pump mechanisms, power sources, and activity levels; I also evaluated the effects of perch and road density and exotic vegetation, all of which are associated with oil development. Both Baird’s sparrows (Ammodramus bairdii) and Sprague’s pipits (Anthus spragueii) had lower abundances at all sites that contained oil infrastructure. The other 3 species, chestnut-collared longspurs (Calcarius ornatus), western meadowlarks (Sturnella neglecta), and Savannah sparrows (Passerculus sandwichensis), were relatively unaffected by oil wells, linear features, or exotic vegetation. Given that oil well sites negatively affected two species of concern, more research is needed to determine mitigation strategies. / October 2016
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:MANITOBA/oai:mspace.lib.umanitoba.ca:1993/31614 |
| Date | 31 August 2016 |
| Creators | Nenninger, Heather R. |
| Contributors | Koper, Nicola (Natural Resources Management), Bayne, Erin (University of Alberta) Peyton, Jonathan (Environment and Geography) |
| Source Sets | University of Manitoba Canada |
| Detected Language | English |
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