Birds, Climate, and Redlining Intersect in University of Puget Sound Student’s Research

Community, Students

Amanda Dougherty ’24 investigates the urban heat island effect in Tacoma

It’s 6 a.m. in Tacoma’s North End neighborhood, and everything is quiet except for the whistling of a group of white-crowned sparrows high in a tree at the end of an alley. Down below, Amanda Dougherty ’24 is watching the sparrows through her binoculars. She has an app pulled up on her phone to help identify the birds by their song, and she notes how many birds she sees in her notebook. Once she’s made her notes, it’s off to the next street on her route.

Dougherty is a biology and environmental policy and decision making major at University of Puget Sound. This summer, she conducted research analyzing the urban heat island effect on the density and diversity of birds across eight different streets and alleyways across Tacoma.

Amanda Dougherty ’24

“Birds are an indicator species. They can tell us a lot about the health of [an] ecosystem as a whole.”

Heat islands occur in urban areas when developers replace trees and other plants with pavement and buildings, leading to higher local temperatures. Heat islands tend to be concentrated in areas of lower socioeconomic status and in places impacted by redlining—a set of discriminatory practices designed to segregate neighborhoods by race or ethnicity. When Dougherty overlaid a map of the hottest zones in the city over a map of historically redlined zones, she found a significant overlap. By tracking how many birds she sees in areas with more or less tree canopy coverage and green space, Dougherty hopes to find clues to the health of the overall urban environment in Tacoma and how different neighborhoods compare.

Over the summer, Amanda Dougherty ’24 conducted research analyzing the urban heat island effect on the density and diversity of birds across eight different streets and alleyways throughout Tacoma.

“What I’m realizing is that it’s all connected. Areas with fewer resources tend to have less green space and fewer birds,” Dougherty says. “Birds are an indicator species for a lot of reasons. They can tell us a lot about the health of that ecosystem as a whole.”

Before embarking on her summer research project, Dougherty never considered herself to be a bird watcher. After losing her job as a beverage director during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Pennsylvania native decided it was time to go back to school to finish her bachelor’s degree. Dougherty started at a community college before transferring to Puget Sound and moving across the country to follow her dream of a career in biology and environmental policy.

“I’d never been to Washington before, but the more I looked at University of Puget Sound, the more I was sure it was the right place for me,” Dougherty says. “My professors and advisors, [Professor] Peter Hodum and [Professor] Peter Wimberger, are all amazing and have helped me tailor the program to what I’m passionate about.”

Explore More Stories