The Boreal Avian Modelling Centre (BAM) is a collaborative initiative that develops and disseminates reliable, data-driven and model-based science and products to support bird management and conservation across North America.
BAM has worked to collate and harmonize hundreds of bird survey datasets across North America and store those data in the WildTrax platform. We have developed specialized statistical approaches to harmonize these datasets by correcting for survey methodology and species detectability to estimate density.
BAM works to develop rigorous, analytical, model-based approaches to support the conservation of the boreal forest region and the bird populations and communities that depend upon it. BAM models have a myriad of applications: to evaluate relationships between birds and their environment from regional to national scales, to predict their response to changes through time and across geographic areas, to explain population trends, to determine which habitats are important and why, to design monitoring efficiently and effectively, to assess how management decisions made now may affect birds in the future.
Developor refine statistical methods to analyze these data, to: provide reliable information on bird distributions, abundances, trends, and habitat associations; forecast population consequences of human activity and climate change; contribute to conservation, management, and monitoring of birds and their habitats.
Assembleharmonize, and archive standardized bird survey data.
Build supportfor bird conservation via collaborations and outreach.
Facilitatefurther research efforts by generating testable hypotheses about key mechanisms driving bird populations.
Encouragepublic awareness and support education.
Conservation of North American breeding birds and their habitats is guided by rigorous, credible, and collaborative science.
BAM develops high quality scientific information, products, and guidance addressing pressing management needs. We pursue our vision of conserving North American boreal-breeding birds by providing data-driven science that fills information gaps to guide conservation action. We seek to understand species’ large-scale habitat needs and the impacts of human activities, informing both regional and continental conservation.
We uphold and operate with these values in mind
We strive to produce content that is accessible to a broad range of decision makers.
We provide high-quality content, holding ourselves to the highest scientific standards.
We embrace continuous improvement, exploring new ideas to develop and identify better ways of achieving avian conservation goals.
We achieve conservation outcomes through partnerships and community.
Through creative methods, our research provides useful information from heterogeneous datasets.
We consider potential research and information needs and pursue related work accordingly.