Abstracts Category : Other

Wildfire Impacts on Nest Provisioning and Survival ofAlaskan Boreal Owls

by Aaron George Anderson

One projected impact of climate change in the borealforest of Alaska is an increase in the frequency and intensity ofwildfire. Species-level research on the impacts of increasedwildfire activity are well suited for guiding management strategiesinto the future. In this study, I combined GIS-analysis with directnesting observations of a common, specialist species of old-growthforests, Boreal Owls (Aegolius funereus), to determine the effectburned foraging habitat had on chick growth, chick survivorship,nest provisioning rate and diet composition. I found that as thepercent of burned habitat surrounding nests increased, preyprovisioning dropped leading to lower prey biomass available perchick. This resulted in lighter chicks, indicating food stressassociated with burned areas culminating in a significant drop insurvival. The prey composition was not affected by area burned,indicating that Boreal Owls may not be able to switch toalternative prey in burned areas. I propose that the reason fordecreased provisioning is related to the forest structure of earlysuccessional habitat not being suitable for the hunting style ofBoreal Owls. These results indicate a vulnerability to increasedwildfire activity and emphasize the importance of old-growth forestfor the breeding success of Boreal Owls.Advisors/Committee Members: Meikle, Doug (Advisor).