Agroecology & Sustainable Agriculture
Ecotoxicology: rodenticides and raptors
Team: Martinico, Bourbour, Phillips, Kross
Collaborators: Hull, Baldwin, Hiroyasu, Johnson, Sonoma Wildlife Rescue, GGRO
Cooperators: Matchbook Wine Company, JH Phillips Vineyards, Turkovich Ranch, Muller Ranch, Citrona Farms
Funding: Western Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (USDA), Vertebrate Pest Research Advisory Council.
Collaborators: Hull, Baldwin, Hiroyasu, Johnson, Sonoma Wildlife Rescue, GGRO
Cooperators: Matchbook Wine Company, JH Phillips Vineyards, Turkovich Ranch, Muller Ranch, Citrona Farms
Funding: Western Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (USDA), Vertebrate Pest Research Advisory Council.
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Barn owls and red-tailed hawks are a popular component of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) programs for the control of rodent pests across the Western United States and contribute to sustainable agriculture through integration of natural biological control, enhancing the environmental quality of agricultural regions, and sustaining the economic viability of farm operations. However, because farmers utilize rodenticides to control rodent pests, owls and hawks can suffer from both lethal and sub-lethal secondary poisoning. Despite the important role that these birds of prey can play in providing long-term, sustainable, and natural pest control services, we have little understanding of how often owls or hawks are exposed to rodenticides and what effect this exposure has on their behavior and reproductive success.
We have received a multi-year grant from the Western Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education grant to test for sublethal rodenticide exposure in over-wintering red-tailed hawks and barn owls, and in breeding barn owls. We are also studying barn owl breeding ecology and movement. |
Songbird Conservation and ecosystem services
Team: Kross, Martinico, Bourbour
Collaborators: Kelsey, Townsend, Long, Heath, Velas, Soykan
Cooperators: JH Phillips Vineyards, Turkovich Ranch, Muller Ranch, Citrona Farms, Bypass Farms, Bullseye Farms, Meek Ranch
Funding: David H. Smith Postdoctoral Fellowship
Collaborators: Kelsey, Townsend, Long, Heath, Velas, Soykan
Cooperators: JH Phillips Vineyards, Turkovich Ranch, Muller Ranch, Citrona Farms, Bypass Farms, Bullseye Farms, Meek Ranch
Funding: David H. Smith Postdoctoral Fellowship
Intensification of agricultural practices has been identified as a major threat to biodiversity, and conservationists advocate wildlife-friendly farming practices to offset the negative impact of farming on wildlife. Importantly, some birds provide farmers with a natural form of pest control, and the loss of biodiversity due to agricultural intensification may therefore lead to an increased reliance on chemical inputs such as pesticides. The few studies that have examined pest control services by birds have shown that by consuming insect pests, some avian species can reduce insect damage to crops and increase yields. However, birds themselves can sometimes be pests by foraging on crops, and farmer efforts to drive birds from fields can compound the detrimental impact of agricultural intensification on wildlife.
We used exclosures to quantify the pest-control services provided by birds, and the potential damage caused by birds for farmers in alfalfa (Kross et al. 2016), tomatoes, sunflowers (Kross et al. 2020), and wine grapes (Kross 2016). The data collected for this work was also used in a large study to understand the effects of habitat planting on bird diversity across an intensive farming landscape (Heath et al. 2017). In 2018, Sara Kross co-authored a review of bird deterrent methods (Rivadeniera et al. 2018). |
barn owl ecology and pest control services
Team: Kross, Martinico, Bourbour, Phillips
Collaborators: Hull, Baldwin, Hiroyasu, Johnson
Cooperators: Matchbook Wine Company, JH Phillips Vineyards, Turkovich Ranch, Muller Ranch, Citrona Farms
Funding: David H. Smith Postdoctoral Fellowship, Vertebrate Pest Research Advisory Council, Bi-National Agriculture Research Development grant.
Collaborators: Hull, Baldwin, Hiroyasu, Johnson
Cooperators: Matchbook Wine Company, JH Phillips Vineyards, Turkovich Ranch, Muller Ranch, Citrona Farms
Funding: David H. Smith Postdoctoral Fellowship, Vertebrate Pest Research Advisory Council, Bi-National Agriculture Research Development grant.
A farmer we were working with on our songbird research asked us about the barn owls on his property, and we realized there was little research about their ecology- spurring an ongoing study into the ecology of barn owls in different farm types (Kross, Bourbour & Martinico 2016), work to understand the likelihood they provide rodent pest-control services (Kross & Baldwin 2016; Hiroyasu et al. In Review), and efforts to understand how farmers perceive owls and other wildlife (Kross et al. 2017). In 2018, we organized an international conference of barn owl scientists in Davis, CA. We continue to work on these questions as part of our ecotoxicology study.
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New Zealand falcon conservation in vineyards
Papers
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Kestrel breeding success in nest boxes
Coming soon!
Raptor use of artificial perches
Team: Kross, Martinez, Chapman
Collaborators: Craig, Hardage, Kelsey
Cooperators: Dye Creek Preserve
Funding: USDA NRCS Conservation Innovation Grant
Collaborators: Craig, Hardage, Kelsey
Cooperators: Dye Creek Preserve
Funding: USDA NRCS Conservation Innovation Grant
USDA-funded project to design, construct, and install artificial raptor perches on a California ranch where, like many ranches, the soil is too rocky to dig holes to anchor poles. Twelve months of remote monitoring will determine if raptors use the perches, if they prefer specific designs, and if they use perches more in certain habitats. In collaboration with Rodd Kelsey, Andrea Craig and Scott Hardage at The Nature Conservancy, and with undergraduate students Renata Chapman and Alejandra Martinez. See more here
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