The Red and Black

Issue date: 2/27/08 Section: Variety

Media Credit: LINDY DUGGER Jeff Hepinstall of the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources talks about modeling urban development during a seminar in the ecology building auditorium Tuesday. [Click to enlarge]

Though land development benefits Athens' residents, it disrupts the lives of birds, a University professor said Tuesday.

Jeff Hepinstall, an assistant professor and landscape ecologist from the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, presented the seminar "Modeling Urban Development and Ecological Change" at the Odum School of Ecology.

His research, comprised of two case studies of the Seattle, Wash. and Athens areas, predicts how land will change and how those changes will affect avian species.

"Humans have quite an impact on the casualties to the environment," he said.

Land development affects natural bird habitats by destroying where the birds live, introducing exotic species to the area and reducing connections between living areas, Hepinstall said.

With computer simulation systems, Hepinstall's team is able to simulate interacting aspects of urban growth, such as real-estate developments and land prices. These models help predict which urban factors will affect bird species. Urban planners can use the results to minimize environmental impact.

In his Seattle research, which began in 1998, he found development and changes in land use will lead to extensive environmental changes. After identifying 57 bird species and 137 landscape areas, the research predicts growth will push native forest species to higher elevations and affect these species because the environment is harsher in higher elevations, Hepinstall said.

"Extinction and colonization determine the pattern of diversity along a gradient of urbanization," he said.

Though Hepinstall's research mainly focuses on the Seattle area, he has started researching in Athens. This research, which began in summer 2007 with University graduate student Michael Parrish, has looked at 36 residential sites. He has three planned visits to the 36 sites in 2008.

Hepinstall said he hopes with more funding, the research will extend its focus to the areas between Atlanta and North Carolina, where urban development has been increasing.

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