Bird communities are frequently used as bioindicators to assess environmental conditions, including in wetland habitats. I developed an avian index of biological integrity (IBI) for wetlands of Kentucky as an intensive assessment method to supplement an existing rapid assessment method used in regulatory programs. Birds are useful indicators because they are sensitive to environmental changes, abundant in various landscapes, occupy higher trophic levels, and can be sampled in a cost-effective manner. Breeding bird point count data from 103 sites were used to calculate a set of 49 avian community metrics. Avian metrics were tested for correlation with independent landscape, hydrology and habitat measures of wetland condition. High performing, non-repetitive metrics were tested using a model averaging approach to find the best set of avian community metrics that predicted an independent measure of wetland condition. Final metrics were scaled and assembled into an Avian IBI. I found four superior metrics to be significantly related to the independent disturbance index. The final metrics used to create the Avian IBI were percent presence of insectivores, percent presence of ground gleaners, percent presence of residents and Shannon Wiener Diversity Index. Both Shannon Wiener Diversity Index and percent presence of insectivores decreased with increasing disturbance. Percent presence of ground gleaners and percent presence of residents had a positive relationship to disturbance. Previous studies found similar results with insectivorous guilds being intolerant to human disturbance, whereas ground-gleaning guilds tend to be more tolerant. This cost-effective and time-efficient IBI complements existing assessment tools for wetlands of Kentucky.
","abstract_html":"<p>Bird communities are frequently used as bioindicators to assess environmental conditions, including in wetland habitats. I developed an avian index of biological integrity (IBI) for wetlands of Kentucky as an intensive assessment method to supplement an existing rapid assessment method used in regulatory programs. Birds are useful indicators because they are sensitive to environmental changes, abundant in various landscapes, occupy higher trophic levels, and can be sampled in a cost-effective manner. Breeding bird point count data from 103 sites were used to calculate a set of 49 avian community metrics. Avian metrics were tested for correlation with independent landscape, hydrology and habitat measures of wetland condition. High performing, non-repetitive metrics were tested using a model averaging approach to find the best set of avian community metrics that predicted an independent measure of wetland condition. Final metrics were scaled and assembled into an Avian IBI. I found four superior metrics to be significantly related to the independent disturbance index. The final metrics used to create the Avian IBI were percent presence of insectivores, percent presence of ground gleaners, percent presence of residents and Shannon Wiener Diversity Index. Both Shannon Wiener Diversity Index and percent presence of insectivores decreased with increasing disturbance. Percent presence of ground gleaners and percent presence of residents had a positive relationship to disturbance. Previous studies found similar results with insectivorous guilds being intolerant to human disturbance, whereas ground-gleaning guilds tend to be more tolerant. This cost-effective and time-efficient IBI complements existing assessment tools for wetlands of Kentucky. </p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Kelly, Kaitlyn"],"institution":"Eastern Kentucky University","degree_name":"Master of Science (MS)","degree_level":"Master's","degree_discipline":"Biological Sciences","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2018,"date_issued":"2018-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2018-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:15:47Z","subjects":["Avian Community","Birds","Index of Biological Integrity","Wetland Assessment","Wetland Conservation","Ornithology","Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology"],"languages":[],"rights":["Copyright 2018 Kaitlyn Kelly"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://encompass.eku.edu/etd/537","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Kelly, Kaitlyn"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Encompass Digital Archive, Eastern Kentucky University"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Master Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Biological Sciences"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Master's"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science (MS)"]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["Eastern Kentucky University"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Avian Community","Birds","Index of Biological Integrity","Wetland Assessment","Wetland Conservation","Ornithology","Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 2018 Kaitlyn Kelly"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://encompass.eku.edu/etd/537"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Bird communities are frequently used as bioindicators to assess environmental conditions, including in wetland habitats. I developed an avian index of biological integrity (IBI) for wetlands of Kentucky as an intensive assessment method to supplement an existing rapid assessment method used in regulatory programs. Birds are useful indicators because they are sensitive to environmental changes, abundant in various landscapes, occupy higher trophic levels, and can be sampled in a cost-effective manner. Breeding bird point count data from 103 sites were used to calculate a set of 49 avian community metrics. Avian metrics were tested for correlation with independent landscape, hydrology and habitat measures of wetland condition. High performing, non-repetitive metrics were tested using a model averaging approach to find the best set of avian community metrics that predicted an independent measure of wetland condition. Final metrics were scaled and assembled into an Avian IBI. I found four superior metrics to be significantly related to the independent disturbance index. The final metrics used to create the Avian IBI were percent presence of insectivores, percent presence of ground gleaners, percent presence of residents and Shannon Wiener Diversity Index. Both Shannon Wiener Diversity Index and percent presence of insectivores decreased with increasing disturbance. Percent presence of ground gleaners and percent presence of residents had a positive relationship to disturbance. Previous studies found similar results with insectivorous guilds being intolerant to human disturbance, whereas ground-gleaning guilds tend to be more tolerant. This cost-effective and time-efficient IBI complements existing assessment tools for wetlands of Kentucky.
"]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/PDF"]},{"key":"dc:source","label":"Dc Source","values":["Encompass Digital Archive: Online Theses and Dissertations"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Development Of An Avian Index Of Biological Integrity For Kentucky Wetlands"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:creator":["Kelly, Kaitlyn"],"dc:description.abstract":["Bird communities are frequently used as bioindicators to assess environmental conditions, including in wetland habitats. I developed an avian index of biological integrity (IBI) for wetlands of Kentucky as an intensive assessment method to supplement an existing rapid assessment method used in regulatory programs. Birds are useful indicators because they are sensitive to environmental changes, abundant in various landscapes, occupy higher trophic levels, and can be sampled in a cost-effective manner. Breeding bird point count data from 103 sites were used to calculate a set of 49 avian community metrics. Avian metrics were tested for correlation with independent landscape, hydrology and habitat measures of wetland condition. High performing, non-repetitive metrics were tested using a model averaging approach to find the best set of avian community metrics that predicted an independent measure of wetland condition. Final metrics were scaled and assembled into an Avian IBI. I found four superior metrics to be significantly related to the independent disturbance index. The final metrics used to create the Avian IBI were percent presence of insectivores, percent presence of ground gleaners, percent presence of residents and Shannon Wiener Diversity Index. Both Shannon Wiener Diversity Index and percent presence of insectivores decreased with increasing disturbance. Percent presence of ground gleaners and percent presence of residents had a positive relationship to disturbance. Previous studies found similar results with insectivorous guilds being intolerant to human disturbance, whereas ground-gleaning guilds tend to be more tolerant. This cost-effective and time-efficient IBI complements existing assessment tools for wetlands of Kentucky.
"],"dc:format":["application/PDF"],"dc:identifier":["https://encompass.eku.edu/etd/537"],"dc:publisher":["Encompass Digital Archive, Eastern Kentucky University"],"dc:rights":["Copyright 2018 Kaitlyn Kelly"],"dc:source":["Encompass Digital Archive: Online Theses and Dissertations"],"dc:subject":["Avian Community","Birds","Index of Biological Integrity","Wetland Assessment","Wetland Conservation","Ornithology","Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology"],"dc:title":["Development Of An Avian Index Of Biological Integrity For Kentucky Wetlands"],"dc:type":["Master Thesis"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Biological Sciences"],"thesis:degree_level":["Master's"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science (MS)"],"thesis:institution_name":["Eastern Kentucky University"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:15:47Z"}