soundscape

Much of my research tends to involve trying to understand patterns and processes in large, complex systems. The central focus of my PHD work, for instance, has been on the relationships between land use and biodiversity. Using the 1992 National Land Cover Dataset in conjunction with the North American Breeding Bird Survey results from the same year, I have attempted to correlate the concentration of different land cover types to estimates of species richness, and to identify landscape mosaics that tend to host higher and lower numbers of different species. I have also used the same survey data to examine trends in species richness over time, to determine whether overall richness at a particular location is stabilized by a dynamic balance between species immigrations and extirpations.

Brian Napoletano

Research Assistant
Department of Forestry and Natural Resources
Purdue University

Email: bnapolet@purdue.edu
Web: http://www.acontrario.org/research/

Research Themes

• Variations in natural systems
• Ecology of the soundscape
• Social-ecological interactions
• Environmental and social justice