Student Researchers

About student research

The EMIGRA Project seeks to understand the governance structures that support migratory species conservation in North America.

We approach this goal by developing a detailed understanding of governance related to a list of trans-boundary North American migratory species. We start with a list of 1002 species, and our first objective is to reduce this to a more manageable list of species for which more detailed data can be collected. To achieve this, we have developed a survey to examine each species according to criteria for retaining or discarding them from our list of focal species.

Our undergraduate team started this critical first phase of the project in May 2022.  Each student receives batches of species from the initial list, and works species-by-species through a Qualtrics survey until all 932 species have been assessed.

Sample species data collected

Species
name

Geographic
Range

Conservation Status & Population Trend

Ecosystem
Services

Ecosystem
Disservices

Management / Conservation Plans

Selasphorus rufus
Rufous hummingbird

Higher risk
Lower risk
No designation found.


Population trend is decreasing in U.S. and Canada


Provisioning
Supporting
Regulating
Cultural

Pollination

None

NGO’s,
Federal Governments, &
Regional Governments