Oil and gas development homogenizing core-forest bird communities

Conventional oil and gas development in northern Pennsylvania altered bird communities, and the current massive build-out of shale-gas infrastructure may accelerate these changes, according to researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences. The commonwealth's Northern Tier—one of the largest blocks of Eastern deciduous forest in the entire Appalachian region—is an important breeding area for neotropical migrant songbirds. These diminutive, insect-eating creatures, which breed in Pennsylvania and winter in Central and South America, contribute greatly to the health of forests.

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