Integrating Automated Tracking and Community Science for Avian Migration and Abundance Insights

Music City Center 

Ecological monitoring has greatly benefited from the integration of automated tracking systems and community science data, though combining these sources introduces unique challenges. In this talk, I discuss approaches to integrating semi-structured data from eBird with automated tracking data from the Motus Wildlife Tracking System to study migration patterns and improve ecological inferences. Using hierarchical models, we examine species-specific arrival times along the Atlantic Flyway while accounting for spatiotemporal variations in sampling effort. Drawing on both past research and ongoing work, I explore how these integrated data sources can enhance our understanding of species dynamics, improve abundance estimates, and inform conservation efforts.