Physiological indicators of habitat quality for a migratory songbird breeding in a forest invaded by non-native Japanese barberry ().

Non-native, invasive plants can impact birds by altering food sources, nesting substrates and other critical resources. Japanese barberry () is one of the most invasive, non-native woody plants in in the northeastern USA, and yet almost nothing is known about its effects on birds or other wildlife. To investigate individual-level impacts of Japanese barberry on a forest-breeding bird, we compared food abundance (leaf-litter arthropod biomass) and the physiological condition of territorial male ovenbirds () between areas of a forest preserve in New York State that had high or low densities of Japanese barberry.