Research Agenda

As I have worked on gathering information for my Writing 60 class this quarter, there have been quite a few studies and articles that are of important note. Below you will find my annotated bibliographies for my research agenda.

SCICOMM ARTICLE RESEARCH STUDIES

a crow on the sidewalk of a bustling city as people are walking by.jpg

Benmazouz, Isma et al. “Corvids in Urban Environments: A Systematic Global Literature Review.” Animals : an open access journal from MDPI vol. 11,11 3226. 11 Nov. 2021, doi:10.3390/ani11113226

In 2021, the article “Corvids in Urban Environments: A Systematic Global Literature Review,” lead research Isma Benmazouz, a PhD candidate working in the departments of Nature Conservation and Zoology at the University of Debrecen, was published as an open source. The study consisted of finding and refining articles that had mention of corvids and urbanization through scientific databases, and then analyzing the results for patterns or trends. What was found is the remarkable success of corvid species to thrive in places like cities due to manmade food sources and their flexible behavior and adaptiveness. Unlike many animals who have fallen to the hands of humans’ urbanization, corvids have managed to thrive and even grow their population, which may prove to be helpful in the future to help other species survive as well. This study is the most recent of the sources I am using, and also an overview of many studies involved. For this reason, its research methods are most varied from the others in that it is a database search that includes other studies either including or similar to the other ones I am using.

Withey, J.C., Marzluff, J.M. "Multi-scale use of lands providing anthropogenic resources by American Crows in an urbanizing landscape." Landscape Ecol 24, 281–293 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-008-9305-9

“Multi-scale use of lands providing anthropogenic resources by American Crows in an urbanizing landscape.” is a study primarily conducted by John Withey, who is an ecologist at Evergreen State College, published by the Springer Science+Business Media in 2008. The study was conducted by recording crow activity from 2003-2004 in areas picked out via stratified random sampling in Washington State, recording the number of crows in relation to the amount of land cover in each area. Their research showed that crow populations were most dense in land areas with the most land cover and manmade resources, revealing a positive correlation between crow populations and urbanization due to crows’ exploitation of resources such as carrion, household garbage, and vegetation from backyards and parks. Crows’ high adaptability will allow their populations to continue to grow in most conditions, so rather than attempting to limit the spaces in which they live, we should encourage a more welcoming and curious tone among humans, to better deal with our non-human neighbors. This study is relatively old, and only focuses on one specific kind of corvids: the American Crow. While the results are similar to the main research article, its methods primarily focus on land cover and frequency of crows in different percentages of impervious structures.

Kristan W. B., III , and W. I. Boarman (2007). "Effects of anthropogenic developments on Common Raven nesting biology in the west Mojave Desert." Ecological Applications 17:1703–1713. https://doi.org/10.1890/06-1114.1

Published by the Ecological Society of America in 2007, “Effects of anthropogenic developments on Common Raven nesting biology in the west Mojave Desert.” was primarily written by William B. Kristan III, a professor at California State University San Marcos in their Biological Sciences department. The study was conducted in the west Mojave Desert and collected data on common raven nests in the area and recorded breeding activity. The results concluded that even in areas that are typically inhospitable such as deserts, the common raven is able to get along just fine as long as there are enough anthropogenic resources available to them. As human-led changes in the environment encourage population growth among common ravens, our behavior and interactions with them can have just as much, if not more of an impact on the success of their growing numbers. The takeaway from this article is quite similar to the other two, but the research focuses more on this specific study rather than any interactions or effects on or of humans, bringing attention more to the trends in ravens’ successes based on human infrastructure in the Mojave desert. And unlike the first or second article, this study focuses on the common raven, rather than the American crow or corvids as a generalized species.

3 Sources About the Problem

Mitra, A., Chatterjee, S., Sarkar, M., Gupta, D.K. (2021). “Toxic Effects of Pesticides on Avian Fauna.” In: Gothandam, K.M., Ranjan, S., Dasgupta, N., Lichtfouse, E. (eds) Environmental Biotechnology Vol. 3. Environmental Chemistry for a Sustainable World, vol 50. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48973-1_3

Anindita Mitra works in the department of Zoology at Bankura Christian College in India, and published the study “Toxic Effects of Pesticides on Avian Fauna.” in October of 2020 as part of the book Environmental Chemistry for a Sustainable World. The article looks at the effects of synthetic pesticides and how much of a negative impact they have on the ecosystem and agricultural landscape. There are many degrees to which pesticides are harmful, varying in amounts of concentration and directivity. But these pesticides can cause harm in direct contact or by spreading contact through migratory birds. We need to narrow down the amount of species (especially birds) that are affected because of pesticides and advancements in technology may help facilitate these changes. This article felt more like a discussion rather than a study, but provided a lot of gathered information on the harmfulness of pesticides as a whole, which will tie nicely into my article.

Cheske, Judy. “A Year of Helping Birds: Avoid Harmful Pesticides.” Chicago Bird Alliance, Chicago Bird Alliance, 20 Sept. 2023, chicagobirdalliance.org/blog/2023/5/20/year-of-helping-birds-avoid-pesticides.

Judy Cheske is a birder and conservation volunteer working with the Chicago Bird Alliance, and the author of “A Year of Helping Birds: Avoid Harmful Pesticides,” which was published in 2023. The article shares that pesticides is one of the leading causes of death for birds. Harmful chemicals meant to kill insects, weeds, and rodents (rodenticides) disrupt the food chain and often end up being ingested by birds. Cheske shares a few links to alternative ways to garden without the use of pesticides, especially those with neonics, as well as a home-made weed killer recipe. There’s been a sharp decline in the amount of birds in our ecosystem and we have to do our best to preserve the wildlife that is still out there while we can, even if it’s just small changes to our gardening purchases. Unlike my other sources, this article is a lot more practical and gives great applicable advice to readers who are interested in this problem.

Shaw, David R. et al. “Changing the paradigm for pesticide resistance management.” Pest Management ScienceVolume 79, Issue 12 p. 4726-4730 https://doi.org/10.1002/ps.7709

“Changing the paradigm for pesticide resistance management” by lead researcher David R. Shaw, the Executive Vice President and distinguished professor of Mississippi State University was published in Pest Management Science Volume 79, Issue 12, in August of 2023. The article sums up a report by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on pesticide resistance management. It gathered many stakeholders to give their expert opinion on the matter of how EPA should actively engage in their role of a broader community. We can conclude that there needs to be a major shift in how we approach the problem of pesticide use—being open to suggestions from scientists, practitioners and farmers alike will aid in the process of steering away from it, although slowly. This article will be helpful in determining outside effects of how pesticide usage is managed and treated for the average consumer of pesticide products.

3 SOLUTION AB's

Mason, J. R, & Clark, L. (1992). Nonlethal repellents: The development of cost-effective, practical solutions to agricultural and industrial problems. Proceedings of the Vertebrate Pest Conference, 15. Retrieved from https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9sg6t1cc

J. Russell Mason was an animal researcher who taught at Clark University and Larry Clark is a recent retiree of the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Wildlife Research Center. The article “Nonlethal repellents: The development of cost-effective, practical solutions to agricultural and industrial problems” was published in 1992 in the Proceedings of the Vertebrate Pest Conference Journal. The article first grabbed survey data evaluating what commodities were damaged by wildlife vs non wildlife across different regions in the U.S.--then it isolated a few chemicals in big repellents and the short and long term possibilities of the repellents. The article concludes that regardless of the use of the repellent, industrial participation is necessary, as well as scientific field research. Beyond just chemical repellent, the authors hope for the research to be used in tandem with other repellent strategies. This is an older study compared to my other sources, and is also one that is more of a discussion summarizing suggested steps for the research industry to follow.

Kern, Hardy. “Playing the Long Game to Reduce Pesticide Threats.” American Bird Conservancy, 4 Apr. 2024, abcbirds.org/long-game-to-reduce-pesticides/#:~:text=ABC%20and%20our%20partners%20at. Accessed 31 May 2024.

The American Bird Conservancy is an organization working towards the conservation of bird wildlife in the Americas. Their website has a lot of resources regarding policy changes and petitions on how to help major issues such as pesticides and plastics. The specific page I linked is about neonics in pesticides and implementing a policy change that requires the EPA to make sure that pesticides that are approved must have data that assures its success. One of the petitions linked onto their page is the Protect America’s Children from Toxic Pesticides Act (S.269/H.R.5085) which addresses loopholes in the industry of selling pesticides. The American Bird Conservancy offers a chance to help carry out big solutions with grassroot level work. Signing a petition can be spread online and can be shared amongst neighborhoods and communities, which is a perfect way to make a big difference in a small way. This source is one of my most practical solutions and relatively recent compared to other information in my research.

Boudh, S., Singh, J.S. (2019). Pesticide Contamination: Environmental Problems and Remediation Strategies. In: Bharagava, R., Chowdhary, P. (eds) Emerging and Eco-Friendly Approaches for Waste Management . Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-8669-4_12

Dr. Siddharth Boudh works at the Indian Institute of Toxicology Research in Lucknow, India and was the leading researcher for the 2019 publication “Pesticide Contamination: Environmental Problems and Remediation Strategies.” After establishing the universal harm highly toxic chemicals in pesticides are to both humans and wildlife, the article mentions a few methods of “land-filling, incineration, composting or burning and chemical amendments” which have been used for their efforts in pesticide removal within recent decades. A few of the solutions that don’t involve completely stopping pesticide use involves ways on how to use them safely and correctly. A few of the methods of solutions mentioned include combinations of bioremediation, electrokinetics, and others. As these chemicals are used globally, the need to implement global changes grows bigger and more urgent. This article is pretty wide ranging and not limited to research on corvids but still offers solutions to the big issue of pesticides which affects many.