Title
How a Leaf Becomes a Bird
Files
Download How a leaf becomes a bird (1.6 MB)
Download And Shredders shred it up (68 KB)
Download Scrapers eat the slime (65 KB)
Download Collectors eat the crumbs (72 KB)
Download Predators hunt their prey, until one day (44 KB)
Download Adults leave the stream and the birds have their feast (174 KB)
Download Forested Streams support our birds at risk (355 KB)
Description
An illustrative series by Dante Bresolin. Follow along to learn about how forested streams support threatened and endangered birds in Ontario.
A leaf falls into a stream . . .
Pictured: Louisiana waterthrush (threatened)
Publication Date
6-28-2021
Publisher
University of Windsor
City
Windsor, ON Canada
Keywords
Nature Conservancy Canada, Benthic Invertebrates, Early Career Researchers, Carbon Cycling, Big Picture
Disciplines
Environmental Education | Environmental Sciences | Forest Sciences | Natural Resources and Conservation
Recommended Citation
Bresolin, Dante Aluccio, "How a Leaf Becomes a Bird" (2021). Healthy Headwaters Lab publications. 2.
https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/hhl_pubs/2
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.
Rights
Copyright 2021 Dante Bresolin
Comments
How a leaf becomes a bird is an illustrative series by Dante Bresolin, one of our recently-completed undergraduate thesis students. While streams and forests are often treated as separate ecosystems, this series highlights the importance of forested streams for supporting several species at risk in Ontario, aquatic and terrestrial. In this series, Dante’s gifts are on full display: their macroinvertebrate expertise is paired with a love for birds, and incredible gift of illustrations that show us how these species are interconnected.
Many insects (invertebrates) spend a portion of their life, typically the larval stage, in the aquatic stream environment. Leaf litter is an important source of energy for stream ecosystems, especially for foundational taxa such as aquatic macroinvertebrates. From scrapers to shredders, invertebrates have developed a range of feeding strategies to use leaf litter. The energy they gain fuels the base of the aquatic food webs, with many species relying on invertebrates for their own nutritional needs.
When invertebrates eventually emerge from the waters as winged adults, they are preyed upon by several bird species. Aerial insectivores like chimney swifts and bank swallows feed on flying insects in the air, while warblers like the Louisiana waterthrush and Prothonotary warbler are known to nest and feed along rivers.
The forested streams and wetlands that these birds call home are threatened in Southern Ontario, and their continued destruction is a likely contributor the decline of aerial insectivores. Reflecting on how we can protect these species, and thinking beyond the stream, the story of how a leaf becomes a bird illustrates the critical role of conservation and restoration of freshwater habitats in protecting species at risk across Ontario.
Dante is an undergraduate thesis student in the Healthy Headwaters Lab and a skilled digital illustrator. They are currently studying benthic macroinvertebrate diversity in the Sydenham River watershed.
http://instagram.com/danteabreso