Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2022, Environment and Natural Resources

In North America, the replacement of greenspaces with human-made structures causes hundreds of millions, if not billions, of avian fatalities every year. Through the continuous increase in urbanization, threats to avian wildlife are exacerbated by a multitude of related factors such as habitat loss, fragmentation, and pollution. Bird collisions with buildings are an integral component of these threats because they directly cause avian mortality, and they are expected to increase as human populations continue to grow in urban areas. Bird collisions with buildings represent the largest source of collision mortalities, ahead of collisions with windmills, power lines, and vehicles. Cities serve as physical impediments for numerous bird species, as many urbanized landscapes are located along migratory routes. Birds play an important role in the proper functioning of ecosystems, and they also play an important role within human societies. Therefore, it is important to explore determinants of bird collisions with buildings to identify effective mitigation strategies that aim to counter the rapid decline of bird populations. Previous studies have identified that numerous factors correlate with bird collisions with buildings. These factors include species' life-history traits, artificial lighting at night, building characteristics, and atmospheric conditions. There are likely a multitude of other factors influencing bird collisions with buildings at any point in time, and this further increases the complexities behind collision dynamics. I evaluated previously identified factors related to bird collisions with buildings to test their influence on bird collisions in Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, during fall of 2017. I identified that life-history strategies related to migration distance and foraging height, along with family groupings, differentiated collision frequencies. For example, long-distance migrant and warbler (Family Paru (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Stephen Matthews (Advisor); Andrew Jones (Committee Member); Alia Dietsch (Committee Member); Robert Gates (Committee Member) Subjects: Biology; Conservation; Ecology; Environmental Science; Wildlife Conservation; Wildlife Management

DMA, University of Cincinnati, 2018, College-Conservatory of Music: Composition

The Blue Bird was inspired by a Korean traditional folk song called Saeya Saeya, Parang Saeya, literally "Bird, Bird, Blue Bird." The song is easily recognizable, with its plaintive melody consisting of three pitches (D, G, and A). The origin of this song is unclear, but the dominant view is that it refers to the Korean general Bong-Joon Juhn, who led a peasant revolution in the late 19th century. General Juhn, known by his nickname the "Green Bean General", rose up against the corrupt ruling class, and his army of farmers swept through large parts of the Korean peninsula before those in power called on Japanese troops to intervene. General Juhn was captured and beheaded in 1895. My piece consists of four dramatic movements with poetic narrator of General Juhn. I borrowed the melody from Saeya Saeya Parang Saeya. Its intervallic structure, featuring the major second, perfect fourth and fifth intervals plays an important role in each movement, with several melodic subjects including other intervals derived from transforming that collection.

Committee: Michael Fiday Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Mara (Margaret) Helmuth D.M.A. (Committee Member); Douglas Knehans D.M.A. (Committee Member) Subjects: Music

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2024, Data Science

The Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) is a critical North American biodiversity research dataset. However, its raw form presents challenges in geospatial applications. This dissertation unveils the SaveBirds.app, an innovative web tool designed to transform BBS data into actionable insights for conservationists and ecologists. By calculating biodiversity metrics tailored to the specific geospatial areas of interest, SaveBirds.app streamlines the analytical process, enabling researchers to focus on their core expertise without the bottleneck of data manipulation. The application enhances BBS data use by providing user-friendly services to compute essential metrics such as species-specific Rarity Scores and geospatially contextualized biodiversity indices. SaveBirds.app mitigates reliance on data specialists and democratizes access to these metrics, fostering independent and inclusive research across the ecological community. Addressing critical gaps in the field, the SaveBirds app equips users with tools that complement the BBS Online Retrieval System (ORS), simplifies the complexity of raw data analysis, and allows for the rapid calculation of biodiversity metrics based on user-defined geospatial areas. The tool also resolves the need for more pre-fabricated atlases essential for biodiversity studies, often limited to static images, by enabling the swift generation and visualization of dynamic bird distribution atlases. Furthermore, the SaveBirds.app introduces an innovative ArcGIS model that expedites the atlas creation process from months to moments, delivering a suite of atlas types tailored to varying research needs. This capability is a substantial leap forward, conserving time and resources for ecologists. In summary, the SaveBirds.app aims to become a valuable resource for ecological research by facilitating a deeper understanding of avian biodiversity and fostering informed conservation decisions. Its launch paves the way for future integrations, such a (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Robert C. Green II Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Andrew Gregory Ph.D. (Committee Member); Qing Tian Ph.D. (Committee Member); Robyn Miller Ph.D. (Other) Subjects: Computer Science; Ecology

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2020, Geography

A recent study shows a net loss of approximately 3 billion birds in North America in the last 50 years (Rosenberg et al., 2019). Maintaining bird populations is crucial as they provide many ecosystem services (Whelan et al., 2015). Conservation efforts typically focus on breeding and wintering grounds, however, 90% of total time spent migrating is allocated to resting and refueling at stopover locations (Lindstrom, 2003). Hueston Woods State Park, a patch of forest surrounded by agriculture, should be an ideal location for stopping. Banding data collected over the last 16 years shows capture rates for all test species negatively trending. Species were grouped based on several factors to identify any patterns in declines. Of the 17 groups analyzed, one yielded significant results (p-value < 0.05) for fall seasons, and eight for spring seasons. Most notable are declines in neotropical frugivores in fall and insectivores in spring, leading to an assumption that this park is not a suitable location for migratory stopovers. While this analysis alone cannot be used to identify a cause for declines, it can be the first step to make parks like Hueston Woods more bird-friendly by creating better stopover habitat to support migratory bird populations.

Committee: R. Hays Cummins (Advisor); David Russell (Committee Member); Robbyn Abbitt (Committee Member) Subjects: Biology; Ecology; Geography

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 1941, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects:

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 1963, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects:

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 1954, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects:

BS, Kent State University, 2024, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Biological Sciences

Bird-window collisions (BWC) have become an interest in the scientific community. However, there is still speculation regarding some of the drivers of these collisions. Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, USA was surveyed for deceased birds from BWC in 2023. Throughout the study, we monitored 8 buildings over 43 days. A total of 16 deceased birds, of eight species, were found. Our preliminary data suggests some buildings surveyed may have a greater potential for BWC. To contextualize our local findings, we compiled similar BWC data from 12 additional North American universities. We calculated the average number of birds found per day per building, allowing a comparison of the rate of collisions recorded on the Kent State campus to other universities. We found that the Kent State University campus appears to have fewer bird-window collisions than other universities. Similarly to another study of this type, we observed that because few incidents were observed throughout our study, we were not able to statistically examine environmental drivers of trends. However, several barriers to data synthesis were noted because not all studies observed the same reporting standards. We recommend thoughtful standardization of observation efforts across campuses as we continue to monitor campus buildings to gain a better understanding of how our university is affecting the nearby wildlife. Increasing our knowledge will allow us to make educated decisions about mitigation on our campus to provide a more eco-friendly campus and benefit the bird populations that we come into contact with.

Committee: Christie Bahlai (Advisor); Mark Kershner (Committee Member); Brian Grafton (Committee Member); Cameron Lee (Committee Member) Subjects: Ecology; Wildlife Conservation; Zoology

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2023, Environment and Natural Resources

The American elm (Ulmus americana) was once found lining the streets of many cities. Now, with the continued threat of Dutch elm disease (Ophiostoma ulmi and O. novo-ulmi), large American elms are uncommon. Efforts by researchers have led to the development of Dutch elm disease-tolerant American elm selections. Yet we have little understanding of how these selections may react to a range of environments when used in restoration. Our goal is to better understand how DED-tolerant elms differ in phenology across locations and genotypes to develop predictions for how they may respond to restoration and future climate change. In common gardens in central Ohio and northern New England, we tracked the progression, time to initiation and time to completion of budbreak and leaf-out, in DED-tolerant elms. We assessed individuals across five genotypes – Princeton, R18-2, Del-2, New Harmony, and Valley Forge – which have been cultivated to produce DED-tolerant lines. Phenological data, i.e., dates at which a tree's buds reached a given stage, collected in central Ohio over two field seasons (spring 2022 and spring 2023) and in New England over one field season (spring 2023) were used to determine the relationship between time and phenology, and the effects of location, year, genotype, and genotype interactions. Data on bird presence and use of elm trees in sites in central Ohio during spring 2023 were used to better understand the potential role of restored elms within the landscape. We found that year and location effects were significant at more stages than genotype or interaction effects – colder locations and the year with later spring warming tended to result in elms reaching key phenological stages later than warmer locations and the year with earlier spring warming. This indicates that environmental factors may have a stronger influence on spring phenology in American elms than genotype. We also found that bird presence had a strong positive correl (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Stephen Matthews (Advisor); Jo Peacock (Committee Member); Matt Davies (Committee Member); Kristin Mercer (Advisor) Subjects: Forestry; Natural Resource Management

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2023, Aerospace Engineering

The ingestion of birds or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) into a jet engine is a significant hazard to the safety of aircraft. While bird ingestions have been extensively researched, the threat posed by UAVs is a more recent concern due to their rise in popularity. To gain a better understanding of the dangers of UAV ingestions, it is useful to compare to ingestions of birds of similar size. This analysis is an important initial step in determining how previous knowledge regarding soft body impacts (i.e., bird impacts) relates to hard body impacts (i.e., UAVs). To properly analyze these ingestions, the use of a representative fan model that would be certified to be airworthy is used. This model includes a fan with representative boundary conditions for ingestion, including blade retention systems, nose cone, casing, and shaft. Additionally, the bird models and UAV models should be experimentally validated to have credible results. Ingestion simulations with these models will provide a better understanding of how different sizes of soft and hard bodies affect the fan during take-off, better-preparing manufacturers and operators alike for the unfortunate event.

Committee: Randall Mathison (Committee Member); Dr. Kiran D'Souza (Advisor) Subjects: Aerospace Engineering; Mechanical Engineering

Bachelor of Science (BS), Ohio University, 2023, Biological Sciences

Properties of the avian skeleton system such as histological organization and cross-sectional geometry have been used to make inferences about organismal biology, locomotion, ecology, and evolution. However, we lack a fundamental organization about how bone naturally develops. This study is the first of its kind, examining developments in vascular orientation, shape, and post-cranial pneumatization in a controlled turkey model. The use of such a model allows for the observation of natural bone development in the absence of ecological or locomotive factors. The humerus and ulna were examined using both micro-CT and a histological workflow. Our results indicate certain periods (weeks 5-7) characterized by notable increase in length and cross-sectional shape measured used to infer resistance to mechanical loading. There is also variation in cortical area (thickness) that may be due to redistribution of cortical bone around the neutral axis. Circumferential canals appear at the border of developing bone and later in the growth series, suggesting it is a normal part of bone development. However, regional differences in histological organization paint a complicated picture between canal orientation and factors such as growth or locomotion. Post-cranial pneumatization of the midshaft appears at week 4 in humeri and air-like space is found in the ulna, which has previously been interpreted as a non-pneumatic bone. This project lays a foundation for further studies into bone as a developing system, helping to understand how bone's appearance may be related to its environment, ecology, growth, and locomotion.

Committee: Patrick M. O'Connor (Advisor) Subjects: Anatomy and Physiology; Animal Sciences; Biology; Biomechanics; Biomedical Research; Developmental Biology; Evolution and Development; Histology; Morphology

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 1964, Biological Sciences

Committee: William B. Jackson (Advisor) Subjects: Biology

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 1963, Biological Sciences

Committee: William B. Jackson (Advisor) Subjects: Biology

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2022, Biological Sciences (Arts and Sciences)

Postcranial skeletal pneumaticity is the hollowing out of individual bones by extensions of the respiratory system. Although only present in birds among living tetrapods, evidence for postcranial skeletal pneumaticity has been observed in three remarkably successful extinct groups, sauropodomorphs, non-avian theropods, and pterosaurs and first appeared in the fossil record at least 200 million years ago. There is extensive variation in pneumaticity expression across species in all groups that exhibit this trait, and this variation appears to correlate with certain aspects of biology, such as body size and locomotor ecology. Despite an extensive evolutionary history, many questions remain regarding the evolutionary drivers of the variation in pneumaticity expression, as well as the functional and structural impact of pneumaticity on individual bones, skeletons, and the organism as a whole. Contained within this dissertation are five research projects designed to address gaps in our knowledge of postcranial skeletal pneumaticity in living birds. Three projects address questions regarding variation in pneumaticity expression, with two of these focused on pneumaticity expression throughout the entire skeleton and one focused on variation both within and across species in a specific region, the forelimb. Another project examines the relationship between soft tissues and bone in a relatively rare phenotype, pneumaticity of the distal forelimb. The final project investigates the interactions between pneumaticity and bone volume, mass, and density, exploring the impact pneumaticity may have on the scaling relationship of the skeleton. The goal of these projects was to ground-truth expression patterns and inform functional interpretations of postcranial skeletal pneumaticity in living animals, birds, a critical step for informing hypotheses related to the role of pneumaticity in the evolution and success of extinct groups of sauropods, non-avian theropo (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Patrick O'Connor (Advisor); Shawn Kuchta (Committee Member); Alycia Stigall (Committee Member); Lawrence Witmer (Committee Member) Subjects: Animals; Biology; Comparative; Evolution and Development; Morphology; Scientific Imaging; Zoology

Master of Science (MS), Bowling Green State University, 2021, Biological Sciences

Bird species have declined due to increased urbanization and intensive agricultural land use by humans. This study examined how survey effort and the landscape metrics of contagion, total edge, and conversion affected bird diversity in Ohio from 2013-2017. These factors were measured at the landscape level for agricultural, natural, and urban areas. Bird data obtained from the Audubon's Societies Christmas Bird Count was used to calculate the diversity metrics including Shannon's Diversity Index, rarity weighted richness, and species richness. Survey effort had a positive effect and was the most important variable determining bird diversity. Natural area contagion also consistently had a positive effect while urban contagion consistently had a negative effect on bird diversity. Agricultural contagion had mixed effects on bird diversity. This approach to analyzing bird diversity is easily done at scale and can be adapted for an array of metrics. However, more information on climate change and longer-term landscape change is needed to better understand how landscape change and human land-use affects bird diversity over time.

Committee: Maria G. Bidart PhD (Advisor); Andrew Gregory PhD (Committee Member); Kevin McCluney PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Biology

BS, Kent State University, 2021, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Biological Sciences

Many animals are facing pressure to adapt to the new conditions in their environments caused by climate change. Two such adaptations are the advancement of spring arrival date in long-distance migratory birds and the shift of temperate distributions northward. These events show a change in historically stable phenological processes and species range over the past few decades due to human impact. Though these phenomena have been widely studied, most analyses have been conducted at the aggregate level. Our study focuses on a specific guild of neotropical migrants: aerial insectivores that breed in Eastern and Central North America. We aim to understand some of the effects of climate change on each of the 19 species selected by looking at shifts in the timing and rate of spring and fall migration from 1988-2020 as well as the centers of abundance on the breeding ranges from 1990-2019. Datasets from eBird, a global citizen science project, were used to assess the earliest sightings of each species above the 35th latitude in the spring and the latest sighting above this latitude in the fall at the start and end of each of the last three decades. Linear regression was used to compare differences in the rate of northward movement in the spring and southward movement in the fall across years. To assess changes in breeding range distribution, centers of abundance for each species from 1990-2019 were calculated using the latitude and longitude of sightings from the North American Breeding Bird Survey. Statistical analysis showed 5 species saw significantly faster rates of northward movement in the spring over time while 8 saw significantly slower rates. In the fall, 2 species saw faster rates of southward movement over time while 11 saw slower rates. Strong evidence exists for changes in centers of the breeding distributions as 17 of the 19 species saw significant directional shifts. Of these, a majority were to the north and west. No statistical tests were performed on the (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Mark Kershner PhD (Advisor); Timothy Assal PhD (Committee Member); David Singer PhD (Committee Member); Christie Bahlai PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Animals; Biology; Climate Change; Conservation; Ecology; Wildlife Conservation; Zoology

MDES, University of Cincinnati, 2019, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning: Design

The latest report from the United Nations indicates that more than two-thirds of the world population is projected to live in urban areas by 2050. (UN, 2018) One of the results of rapid growth urbanization is increased pressure on traffic systems. Although cities have been continually developing better public transportation systems, the First-Last-Mile challenge is still preventing people from a seamless transportation route for their daily commute. The year of 2018 has witnessed a tremendous up spring of different kinds of micro-mobility solutions to address the First-Last-Mile challenge. The Bird electric scooter is the first of its kind of shared dockless scooter service to land in Cincinnati, Ohio in early July. It has attracted the attention from both the City of Cincinnati and the University of Cincinnati for its widespread popularity as well as its unanticipated consequences, for instance, lousy parking choices and rider injuries, etc. This thesis is aimed at understanding the student's transportation experience within an urban university context and how the Bird scooters are fitting into the existing transportation ecosystem. A case study consisted of primary and secondary research has been conducted among University of Cincinnati (UC) students from October 2018 to April 2019 to demonstrate the challenges of the use of Bird scooters at UC: too expensive to become a daily commute tool, unsafe without clear instructions, and low accessibility to be a reliable transportation service. By co-creating with student groups, a new "UC Bird" proposal with secondary design concepts has been developed to address these challenges in order to promote a win-win collaboration between Bird company and the University of Cincinnati.

Committee: Craig Vogel M.I.D. (Committee Chair); Juan Antonio Islas Munoz M.A. (Committee Member); Claudia Rebola Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Design

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2019, Environment and Natural Resources

Early successional bird species have exhibited population declines across North America coinciding with a loss in early successional forest habitats. Additionally, forest conversion and fragmentation has increased with the recent boom in unconventional shale gas development throughout Appalachia; a critically important region for songbird conservation. However, pipeline ROWs, which represent the largest proportion of the modern shale gas development footprint, provide new opportunities for early successional habitat management. This potential has been demonstrated for similarly configured powerline ROWs managed using Integrated Vegetation Management (IVM) approaches, but minimal research is available for corridors with underground infrastructure that require more strict vegetation management regulations. To understand the potential of natural gas pipelines to harbor shrubland habitat, I investigated the application of forest edge-notch techniques and IVM treatments to pipeline ROW edges to promote increased structural complexity of vegetation and to mitigate the negative effects of high contrast edges. The goals of this study were to describe the current avian community structure at the pipeline-forest interfaces and how it compares with similar landscapes and core forest habitats. Additionally, I wanted to assess the response of early successional bird communities to edge-notch vegetation treatments that promote increased shrubland structure and edge complexity along pipeline ROWs. Finally, I aimed to estimate avian breeding parameters, including rates of nest survival, predation, and nest parasitism of early successional birds that nest along pipeline edges to assess the viability of these nesting habitats for declining species. Forest-edge plots (control=11, experimental=12) were established at 10 sites across five counties in Eastern Ohio. Edge-notch treatments significantly decreased basal area (76%, P < 0.001), canopy cover (46%, P = < 0.001), and understor (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Stephen Matthews PhD (Advisor); Gabriel Karns PhD (Committee Member); Robert Gates PhD (Committee Member); Chris Tonra PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Ecology; Environmental Science; Wildlife Conservation; Wildlife Management

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2019, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science (Engineering and Technology)

Bird strikes represent a serious economic and safety risk to aircraft operations, especially near airports where aircraft are in critical stages of flight with little room for error. The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) continues to research ways of mitigating the risk to aircraft posed by bird targets which include surveillance of birds with specialized radar systems. This thesis presents an algorithm that can utilize data from an avian radar, Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast (ADS-B) aircraft positioning data, and other sources to determine which birds constitute a significant risk to aircraft. It is envisioned that this algorithm could be added into a system which then alerts air traffic control (ATC) and/or pilots through communication protocols such as ADS-B and the ATC ground network. For this thesis, avian radar and ADS-B data was analyzed and tested through the prototype algorithm with a simulated aircraft track to illustrate example scenarios of this algorithm working. Additionally, multiple scenarios with a single simulated bird and simulated aircraft track were tested to verify operation of the algorithm when a known collision occurs.

Committee: Chris Bartone Ph.D. (Advisor); Michael Braasch Ph.D. (Committee Member); Frank van Graas Ph.D. (Committee Member); Donald Miles Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Aerospace Engineering; Electrical Engineering; Engineering; Systems Design

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2019, Biological Sciences (Arts and Sciences)

The brains of different species birds are influenced by the functional demands of their respective lifestyles, with the relative size of a given structure often correlating with the emphasis placed on the information it processes. The brain endocasts of birds (or simply “endocasts”) are relatively faithful representatives of the external shape and size of the brain, and they are the most direct source of information about the neuroanatomy of extinct birds. Other traits in the skulls of birds, such as nerve foramina and canals, may also provide information about neuroanatomy in the absence of soft tissue. This dissertation explores the utility of endocasts and other potential osteological correlates of neural tissues for making inferences about neuroanatomy and potential functional capabilities of birds. For the most part, these chapters are based on endocasts generated from microCT scans of bird specimens from museum collections. Various aspects of endocast morphology, such as the surface areas of brain endocast structures like the optic lobe and Wulst or the volume of the trigeminal apparatus, were measured and analyzed. First, a comparison of the endocast of an extinct giant moa, Dinornis robustus, with those of other palaeognaths revealed apomorphic reductions of the optic lobe and floccular lobe in this extinct bird. The roles that the brain structures underlying these endocast structures play in stabilizing the image on the retina suggests that their reduction could have impacted this aspect of vision in D. robustus. Next, the relationship between the optic tectum and hyperpallium, two brain structures involved in vision, and the optic lobe and Wulst, the overlying endocast structures, was quantified in a sample of extant birds. A strong, significant relationship was found between each endocast and brain structure, indicating that the size of these endocast structures can be used to infer the size of the brain structures. As the size of these brain stru (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Lawrence Witmer PhD (Advisor); Shawn Kuchta PhD (Committee Member); Patrick O'Connor PhD (Committee Member); Alycia Stigall PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Anatomy and Physiology; Biology; Evolution and Development; Neurobiology; Paleontology