Use of avian and mammalian guilds as indicators of cumulative impacts in riparian-wetland areas

A new method to assess the simulation effect of human activities on bird and mammal communities of riparian wetland areas was developed by using response guilds to reflect how species theoretically respond to habitat disturbance on a land scapes level. The method was tested by conducting censuses of birds and mammals along wetland and riparian areas of protected and a disturbed watershed in central Pennsylvania. Overall avian response guilds reflected habitat disturbance more predictively than mammalians response guilds.