Jared D. Wolfe

• PhD
• Professor (Assistant) at Michigan Technological University

The Congo Basin rainforest and adjacent Lower Guinea Forest constitute the second largest tract of lowland tropical rainforest in the world. As with the rest of the continent, human population is increasing rapidly and forest degradation is ubiquitous. Forest degradation through logging has pervasive negative effects on ecosystems, but selective lo...

Stable understory microclimates within undisturbed rainforests are often considered refugia against climate change. However, this assumption contrasts with emerging evidence of Neotropical bird population declines in intact rainforests. We assessed the vulnerability of resident rainforest birds to climatic variability, focusing on dry season severi...

Patterns of habitat use directly influence a species' fitness, yet for many species an individual's age can influence patterns of habitat use. However, in tropical rainforests, which host the greatest terrestrial species diversity, little is known about how age classes of different species use different adjacent habitats of varying quality. We use...

Graphical abstract Highlights d Ecological metadata were compiled for 7,694 sites across the Brazilian Amazon d Accessibility and proximity to research facilities influenced research probability d Knowledge gaps are greater in uplands than in wetlands and aquatic habitats d Undersampled areas overlap predicted hotspots of climate change and defores...

Abstract Historically, wildfire and tribal burning practices played important roles in shaping ecosystems throughout the Klamath Siskiyou Bioregion of northern California and southern Oregon. Over the past several decades, there has been increased interest in the application of fire for forest management through the implementation of prescribed fir...

Understanding the distribution and extent of suitable habitats is critical for the conservation of endangered and endemic taxa. Such knowledge is limited for many Central African species, including the rare and globally threatened Grey-necked Picathartes Picathartes oreas , one of only two species in the family Picathartidae endemic to the forests...

Equatorial Guinea in central Africa hosts rich biodiversity and a network of protected areas (PAs). However, infrastructure development has facilitated access to previously remote forests. This has likely increased poaching in PAs, thereby complicating efforts of agencies tasked with protecting threatened mammals. Reserva Natural de Río Campo (RNRC...

Aspects of territorial behavior of Nearctic-neotropical migratory birds during the nonbreeding period are poorly studied. Information about territoriality, site persistence, between-year site fidelity, and territory sizes are not available for most birds, especially in tropical agroecosystems. Given the rapid expansion of oil palm in the neotropics...

Recent long-term studies in protected areas have revealed the loss of biodiversity, yet the ramifications for ecosystem health and resilience remain unknown. Here, we investigate how the loss of understory birds, in the lowest stratum of the forest, affects avian biomass and functional diversity in the Amazon rainforest. Across approximately 30 yea...

Habitat loss and degradation represent a major threat to Nearctic-neotropical migratory birds in the tropics. Managed agroecosystems have the potential to mitigate some impacts of land conversion, however, we know little regarding the quality of expanding oil palm plantation habitat for migratory birds in the neotropics. In this study, we used sex...

Woodcreepers (Dendrocolaptinae) represent a remarkably uniform group of brownish birds that move by hitching up tree trunks as they forage for arthropod prey. Despite these superficial similarities, we were able to uniquely differentiate the niches of all 13 species north of Manaus by integrating morphological traits (e.g., mass and bill size) with...

The cover image is based on the Letter AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds by Tobias et al., https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. The sword‐billed hummingbird (Ensifera ensifera) is exquisitely adapted to its trophic niche as an aerial pollinator of flowerings plants (angiosperms) in the high Andes. A new global data...

Functional traits offer a rich quantitative framework for developing and testing theories in evolutionary biology, ecology and ecosystem science. However, the potential of functional traits to drive theoretical advances and refine models of global change can only be fully realised when species-level information is complete. Here we present the AVON...

Warming from climate change is expected to reduce body size of endotherms, but studies from temperate sys­tems have produced equivocal results. Over four decades, we collected morphometric data on a nonmigratory understory bird community within Amazonian primary rainforest that is experiencing increasingly extreme climate. All 77 species showed low...

Determination of a bird’s age or cohort is critical for studies on avian demography, occurrence patterns, behavior, and conservation management. Age designations have largely been developed in north-temperate regions and utilize calendar-based or seasonally based codes; however, in tropical regions and in the southern hemisphere, these coding syste...

Understanding interactive effects between anthropogenic disturbance and abiotic factors on species turnover can help to identify and prioritize conservation of potentially vulnerable tropical bird communities. We investigated the potential factors influencing avian understory community composition along with a recently constructed road across three...

The timing of events in birds’ annual cycles is important to understanding life history evolution and response to global climate change. Molt timing is often measured as an index of the sum of grown feather proportion or mass within the primary flight feathers. The distribution of these molt data over time has proven difficult to model with standar...

Forests are being converted to agriculture throughout the Afrotropics, driving declines in sensitive rainforest taxa such as understorey birds. The ongoing expansion of cocoa agriculture, a common small‐scale farming commodity, has contributed to the loss of 80% rainforest cover in some African countries. African cocoa farms may provide habitat for...

The slow-paced life history of many Neotropical birds (e.g., high survival and low fecundity) is hypothesized to increase lifetime fitness through investments in self-maintenance over reproduction relative to their temperate counterparts. Molt is a key investment in self-maintenance and is readily shaped by environmental conditions. As such, variat...

Oil palm (Elaies guineensis) plantations are among the fastest growing agroecosystems in the Neotropics, but little is known about how Neotropical birds use oil palm habitats. To better understand the potential value of oil palm as an overwintering habitat for migratory birds, we surveyed birds in oil palm and native forest remnants in Tabasco, Mex...

Chromatic disorders may disrupt adaptive coloration and reduce animals' capacity to survive and produce young. These disorders have been documented widely for bats across the globe. However, most of these cases are concentrated in regions with well-studied faunal communities, such as Europe or North and South America, with little documentation of c...

How are rainforest birds faring in the Anthropocene? We use bird captures spanning > 35 years from 55 sites within a vast area of intact Amazonian rainforest to reveal reduced abundance of terrestrial and near‐ground insectivores in the absence of deforestation, edge effects or other direct anthropogenic landscape change. Because undisturbed forest...

Of the approximately 716 bird species that breed in North America, 386 (54%) are considered Nearctic-Neotropical migrants by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In the past 50 yr, scores of these migratory species, including some once considered common, have declined dramatically. Nearctic-Neotropical migrants normally spend 6-8 months in tropical...

The prebasic molt is a perilous period for songbirds, characterized by heightened energetic demands and vulnerability to predators. Given these vulnerabilities, songbirds are under selective pressure to locate and use quality habitat during the prebasic molt, potentially resulting in site fidelity between years. In this study, we aimed to determine...

Many species of birds show distinctive seasonal breeding and nonbreeding plumages. A number of hypotheses have been proposed for the evolution of this seasonal dichromatism, specifically related to the idea that birds may experience variable levels of sexual selection relative to natural selection throughout the year. However, these hypotheses have...

Habitat destruction and degradation are the leading causes of species declines and extinctions in the world. Human altered landscapes often leave fragments of previously continuous habitat, which may be of significant conservation value. We assessed the effects of habitat fragmentation on the taxonomic diversity, community composition, and nestedne...

Background Vast areas of lowland neotropical forest have regenerated after initially being cleared for agricultural purposes. The ecological value of regenerating second growth to forest-dwelling birds may largely depend on the age of the forest, associated vegetative structure, and when it is capable of sustaining avian demographics similar to tho...

Wildlife conservation is challenged by the expensive and cost prohibitive strategy of directly purchasing land to protect habitat at the landscape scale. An alternative mechanism used to protect habitat includes payments for ecosystem‐services (PES), where farmers and landowners are paid to manage their lands for a particular ecological service. So...

Assessment and preservation of biodiversity has been a central theme of conservation biology since the discipline's inception. However, when diversity estimates are based purely on measures of presence-absence, or even abundance, they do not directly assess in what way focal habitats support the life history needs of individual species making up bi...

Birds found outside their typical range, or vagrants, have fascinated naturalists for decades. Despite broad interest in vagrancy, few attempts have been made to statistically examine the explanatory variables potentially responsible for the phenomenon. In this study, we used multiple linear regression to model the occurrence of 28 rare warbler spe...

Proposed mechanisms for the decline of terrestrial and understory insectivorous birds in the tropics include a related subset that together has been termed the ‘microclimate hypothesis’. One prediction from this hypothesis is that sensitivity to bright light environments discourages birds of the dimly lit rainforest interior from using edges, gaps,...

Birds found outside their typical range, or vagrants, have fascinated naturalists for decades. Despite broad interest in vagrancy, few attempts have been made to statistically examine the explanatory variables potentially responsible for the phenomenon. In this study, we used multiple linear regression to model the occurrence of 28 rare warbler spe...

Birds found outside their typical range, or vagrants, have fascinated naturalists for decades. Despite broad interest in vagrancy, few attempts have been made to statistically examine the explanatory variables potentially responsible for the phenomenon. In this study, we used multiple linear regression to model the occurrence of 28 rare warbler spe...

Areas of northern California, USA, have been identified as quality habitat for an expanded California Condor (Gymnogyps californianus) Recovery Program. Nonetheless, lead poisoning continues to complicate California Condor recovery efforts within their current range and threatens the viability of future propagules. Therefore, background levels of l...

In the first sentence of the fifth paragraph of the Discussion, the authors incorrectly stated the relationship between logging and territory occupancy. The sentence should read instead: “Logging was associated with occupancy in only one study area (Eldorado), where it unexpectedly had a negative association with territory extinction."

Molt is an important avian life history event in which feathers are shed and replaced. The timing, duration, seasonality, extent and pattern of molt follows certain strategies and this book reviews and describes these strategies for nearly 190 species based on information gathered from a 30-year study of Central Amazonian birds. Most species accoun...

Changes in climate can indirectly regulate populations at higher trophic levels by influencing the availability of food resources in the lower reaches of the food web. As such, species that rely on fruit and nectar food resources may be particularly sensitive to these bottom-up perturbations due to the strength of their trophic linkages with climat...

Migratory species employ a variety of strategies to meet energetic demands of postbreeding molt. As such, at least a few species of western Neotropical migrants are known to undergo short-distance upslope movements to locations where adults molt body and flight feathers (altitudinal molt migration). Given inherent difficulties in measuring subtle m...

In early 2016, we conducted bird surveys on the island of Bioko, Equatorial Guinea. We found numerous taxa at different elevations and abundance from those previously reported. We recorded five species new for Bioko (African Jacana Actophilornis africanus, Bat Hawk Macheiramphus alcinus, Western Marsh Harrier Circus aeruginosus, Ethiopian Swallow H...

Molt is an energetically costly process, and songbirds (Order Passeriformes) exhibit a diversity of strategies to maximize their survival and reproductive success while meeting the energetic demands of the annual prebasic molt. Nearctic-Neotropic migrants in western North America commonly exhibit one of three strategies: (1) remain in breeding area...

Mainland Equatorial Guinea is undergoing rapid infrastructure development driven by the discovery of large oil reserves within the country’s maritime political boundaries. The country recently began implementing Horizonte 2020, a national development project that includes a vast highway network and creation of a new capital city. Road construction...

We assessed the occupancy dynamics of 275 California Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis occidentalis) territories in 4 study areas in the Sierra Nevada, California, USA, from 1993 to 2011. We used Landsat data to develop maps of canopy cover for each study area, which we then used to quantify annual territory-specific habitat covariates. We modeled th...

During surveys of mainland Equatorial Guinea and Bioko in November 2013 and December 2014, 246 bird species were recorded, including six that were new for the country (Wahlberg’s Eagle Hieraaetus wahlbergi, Pel’s Fishing Owl Scotopelia peli, Lyre-tailed Honeyguide Melichneutes robustus, Yellow-throated Leaflove Atimastillas flavicollis, Ethiopian S...

Avian diversity in fragmented Amazonian landscapes depends on a balance between extinction and colonization in cleared and disturbed areas. Regenerating forest facilitates bird dispersal within degraded Amazonian landscapes and may tip the balance in favor of persistence in habitat patches. Determining the response of Amazonian birds to fragmentati...

Primary tropical rain forests are being rapidly perforated with new edges via roads, logging, and pastures, and vast areas of secondary forest accumulate following abandonment of agricultural lands. To determine how insectivorous Amazonian understory birds respond to edges between primary rain forest and three age classes of secondary forest, we ra...

ProthonotaryWarblers (Protonotaria citrea) areNearctic-Neotropic migrants that have experienced declining populations over the past 50 yr. Determining their migration routes and wintering areas are critical steps in identifying habitats used by species and populations of conservation concern. We captured a male ProthonotaryWarbler on its breeding t...

The effects of habitat alteration and climatic instability have resulted in the loss of bird populations throughout the globe. Tropical birds in particular may be sensitive to climate and habitat change because of their niche specialization, often sedentary nature, and unique life-cycle phenologies. Despite the potential influence of habitat and cl...

Avian molt, or the regularly scheduled replacement of feathers, is an important life history event, particularly in central Amazonian rainforest birds for which a relatively high proportion of the annual cycle can be dedicated to this process. Here, we detail molt strategies of 18 antbird species (Thamnophilidae) based on 2,362 individuals captured...

Background/Question/Methods Avian diversity in fragmented Amazonian landscapes depends on a balance between extinction and persistence dynamics in cleared and disturbed areas, respectively. Regenerating second growth facilitates bird dispersal within degraded Amazonian landscapes and may tip the balance in favor of persistence in previously depau...

Howell et al. (2003) published an innovative augmentation to terminology proposed by Humphrey and Parkes (1959) that classified bird molt on the basis of perceived evolutionary relationships. Despite apparent universal applicability, Howell et al.'s (2003) proposed terminological changes were met with criticism that cited a failure to verify the ev...

Survival estimates of tropical birds have been used to examine life-history variation across latitudes and dietary guilds. Here, we provide apparent survival estimates of 31 rainforest species from central Amazonian Brazil and compare our results with estimates from Ecuador, Peru (western Amazonia) and French Guiana (eastern Amazonia) to examine ge...