Jeffrey Buler

Professor, Wildlife Ecology University of Delaware

  • Newark DE

Prof. Buler's current research focuses on radar biology, avian ecology and migration, landscape ecology, and conservation biology.

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2 min

The Return of the Quail: How Conservation Efforts are Bringing Back a Once-Extinct Bird in Pennsylvania

Over the next three years, the Pennsylvania Game Commission, the University of Delaware and other partners will release about 100 northern bobwhite quail per year on Letterkenny Army Depot in southern Pennsylvania. The birds have been considered eradicated for at least 20 years in the area.  Chris Williams, a professor of wildlife ecology and the director of the Waterfowl and Upland Gamebird Center, is the lead investigator on the project. “When we think about the greater concerns about wildlife biodiversity and conservation and changing environments, to see extinctions occur in such a short time frame is scary,” Williams said. “And it’s really exciting when we can take chances to try to find a way to bring them back and make sure it’s a long term success.” The researchers hope to help the state’s quail population rebound and evaluate what can be learned from how they acclimate and apply it to similar projects. Two University of Delaware graduate students will work with the researchers to study the quail reintroduction and how songbirds at the site react to it. Each bird has been equipped with a radio transmitter so the researchers can track their movement and survival on the landscape. More than 70 bobwhite quail have been released at the site in recent weeks, including the release of 50 bobwhite quail during a March 19 event. Jeffrey Buler, a professor of wildlife ecology and the co-principal investigator on the project, said other bird species are also an important focus of this project. To arrange an interview with Buler or Williams on this topic, click their “View Profile” buttons. 

Jeffrey BulerChris Williams

2 min

Bird flu resurfaces in chicken, turkey flocks, in midst of fall migration

Across the U.S., cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza are ramping up again in commercial chicken and turkey flocks as well as backyard flocks. HPAI, commonly known as bird flu, is a highly contagious viral disease that is fatal to chickens and turkeys. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, more than 60 million commercial and backyard birds in the U.S. have died from the disease or been killed to contain its spread, since the current, ongoing outbreak first hit U.S. commercial flocks in early 2022. Wild bird migrations are an especially important signal to the Delmarva Peninsula, a major broiler chicken producing region, that HPAI could be near. “In the Atlantic Flyway, extending from the northern Delmarva down to the Carolinas, that’s where the bulk of the Atlantic Flyway birds overwinter,” said Jeffrey Buler, a professor of wildlife ecology in the University of Delaware College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. “We get tens of thousands of snow geese that are here in the winter, and they’re just starting to arrive.” Wild birds, particularly waterfowl, can shed the virus through their saliva or feces. Around this time of year, waterfowl are migrating south, to their wintering grounds. Buler is part of a team of scientists from the University of Delaware, the University of California, Davis, and the U.S. Geological Survey that has been researching using weather radar to track migrating wild birds that could be carrying avian influenza viruses. “It gives us an idea of where and when these migrations are happening,” Buler said. “So ultimately, the poultry industry can ramp up their biosecurity.” Buler can talk about wild bird migrations, what types of migratory birds we tend to see in Delaware this time of year, trends in fall migration and climate, and ongoing weather radar research. To arrange an interview with Jeffrey Buler on this topic, click the “Contact” button in his ExpertFile profile.

Jeffrey Buler

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Biography

Jeff Buler is a Professor in the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware. Dr. Buler established the Aeroecology Program in 2011 and has lead the development of novel methods for using weather surveillance radars to study the broad-scale distribution, movement, and habitat use patterns of flying animals, particularly migratory birds. His broad research interests include avian ecology, landscape ecology, remote-sensing, and conservation biology. In recent years, his research has focused on the impacts of artificial light at night on the flight behavior and stopover distributions of migratory land birds and modeling bird distributions and habitat relationships over broad geographic scales to assess bird response to habitat restoration/management and climate change. Dr. Buler is also a Senior Project Scientist for Agrinerds, a startup company that develops software and hardware solutions for the animal food industry. He leads the development of the Waterfowl Alert Network, a web application that warns the poultry industry when waterfowl, a major reservoir for avian influenza, are in close proximity to their farms.

Industry Expertise

Research
Education/Learning

Areas of Expertise

Bird Migration
Radar Aeroecology
Landscape Ecology
Species Distribution Modeling
Stopover Ecology
Light Pollution
Waterfowl
Avian Influenza

Media Appearances

Mapping migration

University of Delaware UDaily  online

2023-05-23

“Songbirds are often naive about the places that they’re stopping over; they don’t necessarily know where the resources are or where the dangers are,” said Jeff Buler, professor of wildlife ecology in UD’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. “When they’re in these unfamiliar places, they may be more susceptible to things like predation. Throughout the annual cycle, the migration period is a time when these birds experience the greatest mortality.”

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Forest Fragments Act Like ‘Convenience Stores’ for Migrating Birds, Study Finds

Audubon  online

2023-03-31

In a study published in PNAS in January, Guo and her colleagues set out to do just that. Using weather radar, the team identified the most popular stopover sites for migratory songbirds—areas where they can rest and refuel before resuming their energy-intensive journeys—throughout the eastern United States. The researchers chose to focus on eastern migratory landbirds because those populations see the largest declines among North American migrants during their travels.

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Birds Tell Us About Migration

Audubon  online

2022-09-15

To unlock these mysteries, the team of biologists, led by Jeff Buler, PhD, Professor of Wildlife Ecology at University of Delaware, captured 169 individuals earlier this year and outfitted them with tiny transmitters that communicate with a network of monitoring stations called the Motus Wildlife Tracking System.

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Articles

Relating weather radar data to migrating waterfowl abundance in the Rainwater Basin of Nebraska

The Journal of Wildlife Management

2023

Waterfowl migrations are large-scale events that involve millions of birds moving over broad geographic extents, which make them difficult to quantify and study. Historically, wildlife managers have relied mostly on field surveys, such as visual counts from the ground or air that sample at small spatial or temporal extents, or both. Combining field surveys with remote sensing data comprehensively collected over large spatial extents at high temporal frequency may improve the study of migrating waterfowl distributions.

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Autumn stopover hotspots and multiscale habitat associations of migratory landbirds in the eastern United States

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

2022

Understanding the en route habitat requirements of migratory birds is critical for conservation but difficult to know at a large scale. We mapped stopover density of landbirds during autumn migration for the eastern United States using radar data. At a coarse scale, we found that birds migrate across a relatively broad front, underscoring the importance of widespread, locally based conservation efforts. At finer scales, we identified stopover hotspots that consistently support high densities of migrants. We demonstrate that forests provide the most important habitats for autumn migrants and that deciduous forest fragments in heavily deforested regions support especially high densities of migrants.

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Repurposing open-source data from weather radars to reduce the costs of aerial waterbird surveys

Ecological Solutions and Evidence

2022

Aerial counts are the primary means of monitoring waterbird populations. A valid population assessment requires a significant proportion of the population to be surveyed. For broad-ranging species, this requires costly reconnaissance flights and surveys over large areas of potential habitat.

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Education

The University of Southern Mississippi

PhD

Biology

2006

Louisiana State University

MS

Wildlife

1999

St. Mary’s College of Maryland

BA

Biology

1995

Affiliations

  • American Ornithological Society
  • Association of Field Ornithologists
  • Wilson Ornithological Society
  • The Wildlife Society
  • Midwest Migration Network : Steering Committee Member
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