Wake+Audubon+Harpy+Eagles+Seminar

=Wake Audubon: Harpy Eagles | Amy Huang Period 2A=

__*ALL of the following information comes STRICTLY from the (too many?) notes I took at the lecture*__
P.S. Sorry about how long this is. I wanted to type //exactly everything// I took note of and not leave any of it out.

//**On Multiple Wings And a Prayer**//
On October 10, 2017, I attended a Wake Audubon Society Monthly Lecture called "On Multiple Wings And a Prayer", a seminar about Harpy Eagles. At this meeting, I gained knowledge about Harpy Eagles, eating habits, food chains, history, how geography and habitat conditions affect wildlife, digital scoping, and satellite imaging as well as how engineers are developing and applying "machine-learning" in advancing ways such as for mapping out specific species of trees in a region in order to find likely nesting areas in which Harpy Eagles may reside.

//BFREE: Belize Foundation for Research and Environmental Education//
The Belize Foundation for Research and Environmental Education, or BFREE (the company that the seminar speaker Dr. Jamie Rotenberg works for), studies Harpy Eagles in southern Belize, a small country in Central America that borders the Caribbean Sea. In 2000, there were so few Harpy Eagles left in Belize that they were considered to be extinct in the wild of Belize. In 2005, a group of 20 people from BFREE conducted an expedition into the Bladen Nature Reserve in Belize and to their surprise, they discovered a Harpy Eagle.

Since then, BFREE has been managing the Integrated Community-Based Harpy Eagle and Avian Conservation Program, led by Dr. Jamie Rotenberg, where they go sighting for and monitor Harpy Eagles in southern Belize once every year, documenting the Harpy Eagles as well as their locations. BFREE organizes educational outreach programs to teach local villagers and kids about birds and conservation. BFREE has made a large difference in the survival of Harpy Eagles, in decreasing the amount of exploitation of resources in Belize, and in spreading the word about these birds and other organisms to educate others about what steps to take in order to conserve the environment around them and save the Harpy Eagles from going extinct.



// **Harpy Eagles** // Harpy Eagles live 20-30 years and are considered to be the largest eagle. Females can weigh up to 20 lbs while males up to 17 lbs. These eagles have a wingspan of 7 feet. They live in dense forests containing environments that hold clean air and water, and they like to build their nests in the canopies of large trees. They are predatory birds that feed mainly on sloths. However, there are no sloths in Belize; instead, Harpy Eagles in Belize hunt and prey on monkeys, possums, and white-nosed coatimundis. Their hunting strategy is to carefully stalk their prey before ambushing them and carrying the captured prey back to their nest to eat.

//Why Do Harpy Eagles Live in Belize?//

 * Harpy Eagles live in a large, relatively undisturbed block of the rainforest.
 * In Belize, there is low human population pressure.
 * Harpy Eagles also live in Belize for the bottom-up ecosystem control.

//How Can the Population of Harpy Eagles Potentially be Increased?//
As aforementioned, Harpy Eagles feed on coatimundis and possums. Coatimundis and possums eat snails. Snails are an indicator species. BFREE led a study to see how many snails are in Belize. They found many snails in the Maya Mountains of Belize as well as many in sinkholes (they found lots of snails in a sinkhole in a cave that is about the size of a football field!). The karst topography of Belize leads to many sinkholes and therefore many snails. The results of their study showed that there is one snail per every square meter in Belize! Due to the large biomass of snails, there are lots of mid-level consumers who eat these snails, such as coatimundis and possums. The greater population of coatimundis and possums leads to a greater population of Harpy Eagles. Therefore, we should actively protect snails so that the abundance of snails increases, which in turn means more Harpy Eagles! BFREE has been pursuing this plan and has been educating locals about the protection and conservation of snails and such other organisms.



//Sightings, Drones, and Mapping//
BFREE regularly goes birding to search for Harpy Eagles in the rainforests of Belize. Some people search from the ground while others search from mountain tops. In order to get a good, accurate look at the geography of the area, BFREE uses drones to take photos for digital scopings of the trees. Drones can map twice as much as Landsat Satellite Imaging can. BFREE and university student engineers have developed a process that teaches computers or machines to identify or classify certain species of trees and from that knowledge, find all the individual trees of that one species from a map of many trees of various species. This process, known as "machine-learning", is a large advancement in technology that might prove to be useful for many other purposes in the future.

//For What Purpose Do the Trees Serve?//

 * By knowing the percentage of trees that lose leaves in the dry season, we can see how they affect resources, supplies, and nutrients in the environment.
 * Trees indicate soil types and conditions.
 * Natural disasters such as flash flooding are ruining the forests and mountains.Trees need to keep their roots in the ground so that Harpy Eagles do not lose their nesting homes. In order to accomplish this, humans should work towards preventing or minimizing the number of flash floods and other such disastrous occurrences in Belize.

//How Does This Information Apply to APES?//
I learned a lot about how the biomass of a species affects other species; if one species' population decreases, then the populations of the species that depend on that species will also decrease, like a domino effect. I learned about food chains such as these in APES as well. I learned how important it is to conserve the environment and prevent habitat destruction in order to not disturb the populations of organisms. I also learned how geography affects the survival of wildlife in a region, and how the conditions of air, water, and soil have an impact on the lives of organisms in an environment. Furthermore, I learned interesting information about how advancing technology can tie into field biology by use of drones, digital scoping or imaging, and "machine-learning". This applies to what we learned in APES about the use of technology as well as the different types of research used in the study of environmental science.

All in all, I found this month's Wake Audubon Society Monthly Lecture, "On Multiple Wings And a Prayer", to be quite fascinating, and enjoyed taking part in it!!!