Degree Name

MS (Master of Science)

Program

Biology

Date of Award

12-2015

Committee Chair or Co-Chairs

Dr. Fred Alsop III

Committee Members

Fred J. Alsop III, Istvan Karsai, Tom Laughlin

Abstract

The high-elevation forests of the Southern Appalachian Mountains have been impacted and rearranged by a tiny introduced pest from Europe, known as the Balsam Woolly Adelgid (Adelges piceaea), creating a concern for conservation. Breeding bird censuses, along with botanical surveys, have been conducted periodically on an established 60-acre plot since 1967 on the virgin forested slopes of Mount Guyot, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, with the last census being completed in 2015. Breeding bird populations are shown to rise and fall in response to the forest’s changes over the last 48 years. Comparisons are made between all studies in order to assess how bird populations are being affected by the changed forest dynamics.

Document Type

Thesis - unrestricted

Copyright

Copyright by the authors.

Included in

Biology Commons

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