Bird Community Monitoring at Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, Kansas

Birds are an important component of park ecosystems, as their high body temperature, rapid metabolism, and high ecological position in most food webs make them good indicators of the effects of local and regional changes in ecosystems. It has been suggested that management activities aimed at preserving habitat for bird populations, such as for neotropical migrants, can have the added benefit of preserving entire ecosystems and their attendant ecosystem services. Moreover, birds have a tremendous following among the public and many parks provide information on the status and trends of birds through their interpretive programs. The authors detail their findings via the use of trends in the composition and abundance of bird populations as long-term indicators of ecosystem integrity in the habitat of Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, Kansas (TAPR).