Let’s talk about science
A pair of eyes from above
Habitat Change
This video shows how habitat has changed in the last 40 years in Eugene, Oregon, USA. Habitat change has been linked to bird population change.
Birds are important to us
Birds provide essential ecosystem services that benefit human well-being, such as pest control, pollination, and recreation.
How can I address the impact of habitat change on Birds?
Research Interests
These topics are my current research focus, surrounding accurately building bird distribution maps, integrating datasets, and evaluating the impact of habitat change on birds and their contribution to human well-being.
01
Habitat Assessment via Satellite Imagery
Species distribution models
I aim to find a better approach to characterize habitat relevant to birds from satellite imagery.
I compare model performance via quantifying habitat via Landsat raw spectral bands on observer location versus bird location environmental predictor mapping strategies. The results will inform better decisions on building species-specific distribution models.
02
Data Integration and Evaluate the Impact of Habitat Change on Bird Population
eBird + professional bird data
Integrating eBird with professional scientists data may produce better bird abundance estimates. I examine the abundance estimates by comparing three data integration strategies: (1) eBird; (2) professional field survey data; and (3) eBird + professional field survey data.
Once the best data integration is established, I will hindcast the breeding birds’ abundance change in the past 50 years through satellite imagery.
03
Quantifying Ecosystem Services
Pest control services in agricultural context
I incorporate ecosystem services valuation concept into pest control function of birds. I aim to estimate economic values derived from these pest control services in wineries in Oregon. In addition, I will evaluate the relationship between landscape composition and economic value of birds contributing to pest control.
Past projects
I have been involved with multiple projects regarding estimating species richness, best practices of citizen science, and neotropical birds.
Citizen Science
Citizen/Community Science – where the public contributes data to help scientists address scientific problems. It is common to see this form of data clustered spatially which may create sampling bias and further inform biased species distribution prediction. I divided eBird dataset in Oregon into spatial blocks to minimize the impact of sampling bias.
Implement tools to solve complex ecological problems
Professional Skills
Publication & Conferences
Sharing new scientific findings with the public via conferences, symposiums, and peer-reviewed journals.
Field Survey Technique
Monitor avian population and distribution, identifying birds from fields. I have coordinated 32 field surveys in 16 projects and submitted over 1600 checklists.
I coordinated Breeding Bird Taiwan & North America, New Year Bird Count, and Christmas Bird Count since 2015.
Data Analysis
Incorporating various data analysis techniques to address ecological questions, such as machine learning and data integration.
I am familiar with R programming for statistical analyses. For Geographic Information Systems (GIS), I specialize in Google Earth Engine and ArcGIS/Pro.
Sharing ideas
Publications & Presentations
I deeply think sharing what we find with the public can positively change the world. Thus, I devoted sharing my research with audiences from conferences across the globe, such as the American Ornithological Society, the International Ornithological Congress, the Congress of Animal Behavior and Ecology, and the Taiwan Ornithological Congress. In addition, I have published 2 peer-reviewed journals.
standing on the shoulders of giants
Peer-reviewed Journals
- Shen, F.-Y., Stanley Jothiraj, F. V., Hutchinson, R. A., Hallman, T., Curtis, J. R. and Robinson, W. D., Species Distribution Model Performance Improves When Habitat Characterizations are Centered on Detected Individuals Instead of Observers (in review). Available at http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5084030
- Clements, N. M., Shen, F.-Y., & Robinson, W. D. (2025). A 50-Year Perspective on Changes in a Pacific Northwest Breeding Forest Bird Community Reveals General Stability of Abundances. Diversity, 17(2), 123. https://doi.org/10.3390/d17020123
- Shen, F.-Y., Ding, T.-S. & Tsai, J.-S. Comparing avian species richness estimates from structured and semi-structured citizen science data. Sci Rep 13, 1214 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-28064-7
- Robinson, W. D., Errichetti, D., Pollock, H. S., Martinez, A., Stouffer, P. C.,
- Shen, F.-Y., & Blake, J. G. (2021). Big bird plots: Benchmarking neotropical bird communities to address questions in ecology and conservation in an era of rapid change. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2021.697511
Where ideas are born
Conferences
In my undergraduate studies, I acknowledge the importance of receiving feedback from peers and colleagues. Moreover, I know sharing the results with researchers around the world is important. Thanks to Dr. Tsai & Dr. Ding’s support, I finally presented my studies at the 2018 International Ornithological Congress.
I presented my research proposal in front of 230+ attendees at the 2023 Willamette Valley Symposium. Not only did I try to improve my speaking, but also improved my English and academic writing skills.
Brainstorm + Ideas
List of Conferences
- Shen, F.-Y., Kellner, K. F., Hallman, T. A., Stanley Jothiraj, F. V., Hutchinson, R. A. & Robinson, W. R. (2025, August). Improving avian abundance estimates: The advantage of species-specific over half-normal detection functions. [Oral presentation]. American Ornithological Society Conference, St. Louis, Missouri.
- Shen, F.-Y., Stanley Jothiraj, F. V., Hallman, T. A., Hutchinson, R. A., Robinson, W. R. (2025, April). Improving Species Distribution Models by Characterizing Habitat at Organism Locations Instead of Observer Locations. [Oral presentation] presented at the Research Advances in Fisheries, Wildlife, and Ecology joint Symposium with College of Forestry, Corvallis, Oregon, USA.
- Shen, F.-Y., Stanley Jothiraj, F. V., Hallman, T. A., Hutchinson, R. A., W. Douglas Robinson (2025, February). Model prediction is better when characterizing habitat on bird location than on observer location. [Oral presentation]. Willamette Valley Bird Symposium, Corvallis, Oregon, USA.
- Shen, F.-Y., Stanley Jothiraj, F. V., Hallman, T. A., Hutchinson, R. A., W. Douglas Robinson (2024, October). Does species distribution model performance improve when habitat sampling is centered on bird locations instead of surveyor locations? [Oral presentation]. American Ornithological Society Conference, Estes Park, Colorado, USA.
- Shen, F.-Y., Stanley Jothiraj, F. V., Hallman, T. A., Hutchinson, R. A., W. Douglas Robinson (2024, April). Comparing species distribution model performance on species-centered and observer-centered habitat mapping approaches. [Poster session] presented at the Research Advances in Fisheries, Wildlife, and Ecology joint Symposium with College of Forestry, Corvallis, Oregon, USA.
- Shen, F.-Y., Tsai, J.-S. and Ding, T.-S. (2023, August). Comparing species richness estimates from Breeding Bird Survey Taiwan and eBird [Oral presentation]. American Ornithological Society & Society of Canadian Ornithologists Joint Conference, London, Ontario, Canada.
- Shen, F.-Y. (2023, April). Quantifying change in avian abundance through data integration to inform perspective on the functional value of ecosystem services. [Poster session]. Research Advances in Fisheries, Wildlife, and Ecology joint Symposium with College of Forestry, Corvallis, Oregon, USA.
- Shen, F.-Y. (2023, January). How many birds are in Oregon? [Oral presentation]. Willamette Valley Bird Symposium, Corvallis, Oregon, USA.
- Shen, F.-Y., Robinson, W. D. (2022, April). Predicting suitable habitat for Western Meadowlark with eBird data in Google Earth Engine: Benefits and challenges. [Poster session]. Research Advances in Fisheries, Wildlife, and Ecology Symposium, Corvallis, Oregon, USA.
- Tsai, J.-S. and Shen, F.-Y. (2020, September). eBird as a citizen science platform for avian biodiversity monitoring. [Oral presentation]. The Application of citizen science as a tool of monitoring biodiversity in national parks, Nantou, Taiwan
- Shen, F.-Y., Tsai, J.-S. and Ding, T.-S. (2018, August). Calibrating breeding bird survey data: Does community detectability change through time? [Poster session]. The meeting of the International Ornithological Congress, Vancouver, Canada.
- Shen, F.-Y., Tsai, J.-S. and Ding, T.-S. (2018, May). The accuracy of avian community monitoring program: The importance of accounting imperfect detection. Poster session presented at the meeting of the Taiwan Ornithological Congress, Taichung, Taiwan.
- Shen, F.-Y. and Tsai, J.-S. (2018, January). Influences of season and habitat on species accumulation curve in bird survey. [Poster session]. The Congress of Animal Behavior and Ecology, Hsinchu, Taiwan.
Invited Talk
- Fang-Yu Shen (2022, May). Species distribution model to ecosystem services: quantifying birds’ functional traits. Oral presentation presented at the People and Nature, Corvallis, USA