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Austin Peay partners with TWRA to survey imperiled grassland birds

By: Colby Wilson August 16, 2024

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. — Austin Peay State University’s Center of Excellence for Field Biology (CEFB) is partnering with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) to design and implement the first-ever systematic survey of breeding grassland bird populations across the state of Tennessee.

“Grassland birds of the eastern U.S. have been historically a bit neglected due to the myth that grasslands were not a natural part of the �����Ի���������,” said Dr. Stefan Woltmann, CEFB director and principal investigator for the project. “Grassland habitats have been an important part of these landscapes for thousands of years, and a number of species that depend on them are showing alarming population declines since the 1970s.”

Tennessee species with the steepest population declines include the Northern Bobwhite (“quail”), Henslow’s Sparrow, Grasshopper Sparrow, and Loggerhead Shrike.

“A common challenge to just about any project to conserve and manage declining species is the lack of baseline survey data,” Woltmann said. “It’s hard to conserve things without data on their location, population, and changes over time.”

The project aims to design a systematic and unbiased monitoring protocol for surveying grassland birds across the entire state and implement it in 2025.

“On the face of it, it seems like a fairly simple �ٲ�����,” Woltmann said. “But because prairie-like habitats can change or be converted to agriculture very quickly, just being able to identify sampling sites that meet our requirements is going to take a fair amount of work.”

The project will form the basis for master’s thesis research by Brianna Saylor, an incoming graduate student in the Department of Biology. It will also give students the opportunity to take part in the statewide survey efforts in 2025.

About the Austin Peay College of STEM

The College of Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (STEM) provides studies for students in the areas of agriculture, astronomy, aviation sciences, biology, chemistry, computer science, earth and environmental sciences, engineering physics, engineering technology, information technology, mathematics, medical laboratory sciences, radiologic sciences and physics. Our outstanding, discipline-based programs are student-centered and designed to prepare students for responsible positions at all levels of research, industry, education, medicine and government positions.