Fragmentation of habitats used by neotropical migratory birds in Southern Appalachians and the neotropics

Recent declines in North American breeding bird populations have sparked great concern over the effects of habitat fragmentation. Neotropical migrant birds use and are influenced by two biomes during a single life span. Yet assessment of the relative importance of changes in tropical wintering areas versus temperate breeding areas is complicated by regional variation in rates and extent of habitat change. Landscape-level measurements of forest fragmentation derived from remotely-sensed data provide a means to compare the patterns of habitat modification on the wintering and breeding grounds of migrant birds. This study quantifies patterns of forest fragmentation in the Southern Appalachian Mountains and tropical Amazon and relates these patterns to the resource needs of neotropical migrant birds. Study sites were selected from remotely-sensed images to represent a range of forest fragmentation (highly fragmented landscape to continuous forest).