Welcome to the American Ornithological Society 2018 Annual Conference. We are pleased to have you join us at the lovely Hilton El Conquistador Resort in Tucson, AZ.
Many shrubland bird species have suffered population declines over the past 50 years. Habitat loss and degradation are generally implicated in these declines, and many have questioned the quality of remaining habitat for these species. One possible contributor to habitat quality has been the colonization of many remaining parcels by invasive plant species. We set out to investigate predictors of species occupancy for conservation priority birds in a system of highly fragmented habitats with varying amounts of invasion by non-native shrub species. We examined occupancy of three shrubland obligate species in Illinois (Bell's Vireo, Yellow-breasted Chat, and the Field Sparrow) in relation to landscape characteristics, habitat structure, and plant community identity. Occupancy of our focal species ranged from 18 to 89\%, and preliminary analyses indicate that the vegetation community of a shrubland is a more important predictor of the presence/absence of shrubland obligate species in comparison to landscape context and vegetation structure. We will be collecting additional information in 2018 to further elaborate on this relationship, but it appears that non-native species may play an important role in dictating habitat quality for shrubland obligate species in Illinois.
