Assessing the Corn Belt as an anthropogenic barrier to migrating landbirds in the United States.

ABSTRACT: Migrating landbirds adjust their flight and stopover behaviors to efficiently cross inhospitable geographies, such as the Gulf of Mexico and the Sahara Desert. In addition to these natural barriers, birds may increasingly encounter anthropogenic barriers created by large-scale changes in land use. One such barrier could be the Corn Belt in the Midwest United States, where 76.4% of precolonial vegetation (forest and grassland combined) has been replaced by agricultural and urban areas, primarily corn fields. We used 5 years of data from 47 weather radar stations in the United States to compare the population-level flight patterns of migrating landbirds crossing the Corn Belt and the forested landscapes south and north of it in spring and autumn. We also examined the impacts of the Corn Belt

SUBMITTER: Guo F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12451512 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature