Madhusudan Katti

NC State University, Forestry and Environmental Resources, Faculty Member

California State University, Fresno, Biology, Faculty Member

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I am a reconciliation ecologist interested in 1) understanding how animals respond to human modifications of the environment over ecological and evolutionary time scales, 2) applying this knowledge towards increasing the amount of biodiversity within human-dominated landscapes, and thereby, 3) reconciling the needs of other species with the goal of improving the quality of human life.

The best way to keep up with me is via twitter, where I am leafwarbler (http://twitter.com/leafwarbler). There I try to engage in an ongoing conversation about questions that rattle around in my skull on everything connected with biodiversity and reconciliation ecology.
Supervisors: Thomas P. Hahn, Nancy B. Grimm, Trevor Price, and A. J. T. Johnsingh
Phone: +1.919.515.8638
Address: Chancellor’s Faculty Excellence Program for Leadership in Public Science
Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources
5223 Jordan Hall Addition, Campus Box 8008
North Caroline State University
Raleigh, NC 27695-8008

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Papers by Madhusudan Katti

Forests After Florence: an informal community-engaged STEM research project promotes STEM identity in disaster-impacted students

Research in Science & Technological Education

Background: Natural disasters, such as hurricanes, can have lasting impacts on a communityPurpose... more

Urban biodiversity: State of the science and future directions

Urban Ecosystems

Participant and Socio-Ecological Outcomes of the Hofmann Open-Water Laboratory (HOWL) Citizen Science Project

Journal of Community Engagement and Scholarship, 2021

Citizen science, also known as participatory research, combines the efforts of professional resea... more Citizen science, also known as participatory research, combines the efforts of professional researchers and community volunteers to collect data. We have established one such collaborative project in eastern North Carolina, near the 79,000-acre Hofmann Forest, called the Hofmann Open-Water Laboratory (HOWL) citizen science project. The White Oak River, New River, and Trent River all flow out of the Hofmann. The Hofmann is an ecological keystone in the region, acting as a natural filtration system for harmful runoff that occurs in the coastal plain of North Carolina. Our purposes for this study were twofold: (a) to evaluate the HOWL project by assessing the perceptions of HOWL participants and determining whether the project achieved its goals of individual development and community engagement and (b) to provide recommendations for the HOWL project as well as suggestions for other participatory research projects in their beginning phases. We interviewed 12 HOWL citizen scientists who...

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Can Informal Learning Help Promote Science Identity And Learning In College Students Impacted By Climate Change Disasters?

Poster Presented at the 2020 Teaching and Learning Symposium organized by the Office of Faculty D... more Poster Presented at the 2020 Teaching and Learning Symposium organized by the Office of Faculty Development, North Carolina State University, February 28, 2020. Abstract: Natural disasters, including those linked to climate change, such as hurricanes, can have lasting impacts on a community, especially the youth. The damage after a disaster can lead to more stress for students and affect how they perform in school. There is little research on how this affects college-aged students, and effective learning approaches to help them recover. We evaluated how participation in informal learning experiences after a natural disaster affected students' persistence, resilience, and STEM identity. Fifty undergraduate students from NC State, selected from a pool of 4797 impacted by Hurricane Florence (each paid a $1000 stipend), engaged in an informal learning experience where they worked in pairs over 2 weeks to collect community-relevant forest impact data in their home counties. ...

Forests After Florence: Application of 360° Photography and Oral History to Document Hurricane Impacts on Urban Forests and Communities in Coastal North Carolina

Poster presented at HurriCon: Science at the Intersection of Hurricanes and the Populated Coast, ... more Poster presented at HurriCon: Science at the Intersection of Hurricanes and the Populated Coast, at East Carolina University, February 27-28, 2020. Abstract: Climate change driven increase in frequency of hurricanes is part of the new normal. Focusing on academic commitments following a disaster is challenging for students. Prior research has demonstrated high rates of stress amongst students following a range of natural disasters. Our aim is to promote science learning through community- engaged research as a pathway to persistence for disaster-impacted students. NC State University (NCSU), like many schools in North Carolina, has a high number of students who were impacted by Hurricane Florence in 2018. Many disaster-impacted students are also low-income or from ethnic minority backgrounds. Research documents the importance of science learning that is highly connected with local communities and broader societal issues for student persistence. Students also value...

Biodiversity in the concrete jungles of the Anthropocene: global patterns & local processes in urban ecology

Slides from a talk given at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, as part of t... more

Effects of urban noise, irrigation, and neighborhood socioeconomics on bird communities in Fresno, California

COS 93-7: Effects of urban noise, irrigation, and neighborhood socioeconomics on bird co... more COS 93-7: Effects of urban noise, irrigation, and neighborhood socioeconomics on bird communities in Fresno, California Wednesday, August 12, 2015: 3:40 PM 348, Baltimore Convention Center Madhusudan Katti, Biology, California State University, Fresno, Fresno, CA, USA Pedro Garcia, Biology, California State University, Fresno, Fresno, CA, USA Background/Question/Methods: Ecological and socioeconomic variables must be combined to explain the composition, distribution, and population dynamics of urban wildlife. We have shown that property value and yard irrigation drive plant and bird diversity in Central California’s Fresno-Clovis Metro Area (FCMA). Here we focus on how three local scale factors—anthropogenic noise, proximity to wetspace (flood control basins), and greenspace (parks)—affect bird abundance and species richness. We analyzed bird counts (at 238 random points) by Fresno Bird Count (FBC) volunteers with concurrent noise level measurements and distance to nearest greenspace and wetspace. Results/Conclusions: Sites with extreme noise levels had fewer species (5.4 spp on average) than sites with moderate (7.2 sp; ANOVA, p=0.05) or no noise (7.4 sp; p=0.03). Noise had no effect on bird abundance (p=0.09). Proximity to wetspace had a significant effect on species richness (R2=0.057, p<0.0002), but not on abundance (R2=0.007, p=0.21). Proximity to parks showed the same trend for species richness (R2=0.016, p=0.05) and abundance (R2=0.0024, p=0.45). These effects persist after controlling for property value and yard irrigation levels, both previously shown to drive bird diversity and abundance. While socioeconomics explain bird diversity across FCMA, local (within city) variation in diversity is driven by landscape (green or wet spaces) and behavioral (noise) variables. While more food in cities increases bird populations, species composition is more sensitive to noise and landscape factors other than food. Urban ecology research and policy must take more multiscale, multivariate, landscape-based, and taxon specific approaches to better manage cities for biodiversity.</p

Point count bird censusing - long term study in central Arizona-Phoenix: Study sites

Is Science for Me? Promoting Science Identity Following Climate Change Disasters in College Students

Poster presented at HurriCon: Science at the Intersection of Hurricanes and the Populated Coast, ... more

Point-count bird censusing: long-term monitoring of bird abundance and diversity along the Salt River in the greater Phoenix metropolitan area, ongoing since 2013

Waterways are often the focus of restoration efforts in urban areas. In arid regions, passive dis... more Waterways are often the focus of restoration efforts in urban areas. In arid regions, passive discharge of urban water sources may stimulate the recovery or growth of wetland and riparian features in dewatered or ephemeral aquatic systems. In the greater Phoenix metropolitan area (GPMA), sections of the Salt and Gila Rivers have been the targets of active restoration through seeding, planting, and irrigation. At the same time, revegetation has occurred in some sections of the rivers in response to runoff from urban water sources (e.g., storm drains). This dataset catalogs the results of bird surveys conducted at several locations along the Salt River in and around the GPMA beginning in March 2013. Monitoring locations focus on reaches of the river with different characteristics, including: (1) urbanized with perennial water and actively restored (n=2 reaches), (2) urbanized with perennial water and passively restored (n=2 reaches), (3) urbanized with ephemeral water but not restored...

Reveals Key Anthropogenic Drivers

plant diversity reveals key anthropogenic drivers A global analysis of the impacts of urbanizatio... more

Demographic changes of a tropical understory bird in naturally patchy montane habitats in southern India

The occurrence, density and survival of a species often depend on various aspects of the habitat ... more The occurrence, density and survival of a species often depend on various aspects of the habitat that it occupies including patch size and disturbance. The demography of most threatened tropical species largely remain unstudied but could provide valuable information about their biology and insights for their conservation. Our study examined the effect of patch size and disturbance on different demographic parameters of an understory, threatened, endemic bird, the white-bellied shortwing in the tropical biodiversity hotspot of the Western Ghats in India. We sampled eight plots on a sky-island using mist-nets for four years in a 'Robust design' mark-recapture framework. Based on model selection using AIC values, the model with survival as a function of disturbance fits the data better than models with abundance or with these parameters modelled as functions of forest patch size. Shortwing density and sex ratio were not different across forest patch sizes or differing disturban...

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The phylogenetic and functional diversity of regional breeding bird assemblages is reduced and constricted through urbanization

Diversity and Distributions, 2018

Aim: Urbanization broadly affects the phylogenetic and functional diversity of natural communitie... more Aim: Urbanization broadly affects the phylogenetic and functional diversity of natural communities through a variety of processes including habitat loss and the introduction of non-native species. Due to the challenge of acquiring direct measurements, these effects have been studied primarily using "space-for-time" substitution where spatial urbanization gradients are used to infer the consequences of urbanization occurring across time. The ability of alternative sampling designs to replicate the findings derived using space-for-time substitution has not been tested. Location: Global. Methods: We contrasted the phylogenetic and functional diversity of breeding bird assemblages in 58 cities worldwide with the corresponding regional breeding bird assemblages estimated using geographic range maps. Results: Compared to regional assemblages, urban assemblages contained lower phylogenetic diversity, lower phylogenetic beta diversity, a reduction in the least evolutionary distinct species and the loss of the most evolutionarily distinct species. We found no evidence that these effects were related to the presence of non-native species. Urban assemblages contained fewer aquatic species and fewer aquatic foraging species. The distribution of body size and range size narrowed for urban assemblages with the loss of species at both tails of the distribution, especially large bodied and broadly distributed species. Urban assemblages contained a greater proportion of species classified as passerines, doves or pigeons; species identified as granivores; species that forage within vegetation or in the air; and species with more generalized associations with foraging strata. Main conclusions: Urbanization is associated with the overall reduction and constriction of phylogenetic and functional diversity, results that largely replicate those generated using space-for-time substitution, increasing our confidence in the quality of the combined inferences. When direct measurements are unavailable, our findings emphasize the value of developing independent sampling methods that broaden and reinforce our understanding of the ecological implications of urbanization.

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Hierarchical filters determine community assembly of urban species pools

Ecology, 2016

The majority of humanity now lives in cities or towns, with this proportion expected to continue ... more The majority of humanity now lives in cities or towns, with this proportion expected to continue increasing for the foreseeable future. As novel ecosystems, urban areas offer an ideal opportunity to examine multi-scalar processes involved in community assembly as well Accepted Article This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. as the role of human activities in modulating environmental drivers of biodiversity. Although ecologists have made great strides in recent decades at documenting ecological relationships in urban areas, much remains unknown, and we still need to identify the major ecological factors, aside from habitat loss, behind the persistence or extinction of species and guilds of species in cities. Given this paucity of knowledge, there is an immediate need to facilitate collaborative, interdisciplinary research on the patterns and drivers of biodiversity in cities at multiple spatial scales. In this review, we introduce a new conceptual framework for understanding the filtering processes that mold diversity of urban floras and faunas. We hypothesize that the following hierarchical series of filters influence species distributions in cities: 1) regional climatic and biogeographical factors; 2) human facilitation; 3) urban form and development history; 4) socioeconomic and cultural factors; and 5) species interactions. In addition to these filters, life history and functional traits of species are important in determining community assembly and act at multiple spatial scales. Using these filters as a conceptual framework can help frame future research needed to elucidate processes of community assembly in urban areas. Understanding how humans influence community structure and processes will aid in the management, design, and planning of our cities to best support biodiversity.

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Cities as Global Biodiversity Hotspots

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Aronson et al. 2014. Global urban biodiversity, Proc R Soc B

Interactions between urban water policy, residential irrigation, and plant & bird diversity in the Fresno-Clovis Metro Area

Nature Precedings, 2011

Water pricing as a regulatory tool? ✤ Water pricing may reduce water consumption under certain co... more Water pricing as a regulatory tool? ✤ Water pricing may reduce water consumption under certain conditions ✤ but most municipal water departments avoid water pricing policies that could encourage conservation ✤ The cost of water is negligible for budgetary decision making in most households-particularly true in the US urban-faces.org

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Global patterns and correlates of urban biodiversity

ABSTRACT Background/Question/Methods Cities are novel ecosystems characterized by fragmented and ... more ABSTRACT Background/Question/Methods Cities are novel ecosystems characterized by fragmented and disturbed environments, high densities of fabricated structures and impervious surfaces, and elevated levels of certain resources. Globally, these commonalities, in combination with human mediated biotic interchange, may result in the homogenization of species composition among cities. In addition, cities are often located in species rich regions where native species are threatened by habitat loss and species introductions. Given the World’s urban population is growing 1% per-annum on average, a better understanding of the global patterns and drivers of urban biodiversity is necessary for sustainable planning and conservation. We compiled city-wide bird species lists for 54 cities and city-wide floras of spontaneously established vascular plants for 110 cities. The lists encompass 36 countries on six continents and represents the largest compilation of urban biodiversity data to date. We examined patterns of species diversity within and among cities and their environmental and anthropogenic correlates. Results/Conclusions Bird and plant species richness (median: birds = 112.5, plants = 762) and the number of non-native species (median: birds = 3.5, plants = 213) differed broadly among cities with cities containing, on average, more native species. The number of species in each city was predicted primarily by the physical features of the city related to population size and land-cover, with the species-area relationship playing a dominant role. The proportion of non-native plants in each city was predicted by multiple factors suggesting their prevalence was not determined exclusively by human activities. Globally, the compositions of plant and bird species were highly dissimilar among cities. Within regions, the composition of non-native plants and birds were more similar among cities, particularly within regions outside of Europe. Non-native plants identified as European archaeophytes (introduced into Europe prior to ad 1500) and species of plants and birds identified as global invaders were shared more broadly among cities, particularly within regions outside of Europe. Younger cities further from the equator with close climatic and cultural associations to Europe tended to have more similar compositions of plant species. For birds, compositional patterns did not differ along similar gradients, likely due to the presence of a limited number of identical non-native bird species. Despite worldwide biodiversity loss, cities currently retain their regional biological identities, with Europe playing a historical role as a source of urban adapted species. Urban biodiversity can play an important role supporting conservation, restoration, and education initiatives in a rapidly urbanizing world.

Cities as hotspots for bird conservation

Tits, noise and urban bioacoustics

Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 2004

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Madhusudan Katti

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