Concordia University
M.Sc. candidate
Supervisor: Carly Ziter
Barbara Frei, ECCC
Start: 2025-09-02
End: 2027-08-31

Project

The Effect of Tree Planting Initiatives on Urban Bird Communities
This pilot project aims to answer two research questions: (1) How much do tree planting initiatives contribute to bird biodiversity in an urban setting? (2) To what extent does this contribution differ between planting styles? Sites where a tree planting project has recently taken place were selected for the study, along with nearby control sites (without newly planted trees). We used Autonomous Recording Units (ARUs) to capture bird song in these sites to subsequently identify the bird species present. We will look for differences in species richness between tree planting and control sites. To address the second research question, we measured (height and Diameter at Breast Height (DBH)) and identified all trees within a 50 m radius of the ARUs. These vegetation surveys will allow us to identify potential ecological mechanisms underlying any differences in the bird communities between planting and control plots. 

Keywords

biodiversity / biodiversité, Bird / oiseau, Urban greening / Verdissement urbain, Tree planting / Plantation d'arbres