Category: Nancy Elliot

Blog Post 3: Ongoing Field Observations

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The organism I plan to study for the field research project are birds. On March 8, 2019 I observed bird species along Jack Pine Trail, a forested trail located in the Ottawa Greenbelt. I chose three locations along this trail based on the distance from the Moodie Drive.

I started my observations at Location 1 at 1000 hrs. The ambient temperature at the time was -11°C, it was sunny with no overcast. Initially, I was to identify species of bird both by visual observations as well as auditory. However, I was unable to identify species based on their calls, thus I decided against identifying species on auditory observations.

Location 1 yielded three species. Namely the Black-Capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus), the Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus), and the Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens). This location was at the entrance to the trail and as such was a heavily trafficked area and was nearest to the adjacent highway (i.e., Moodie Drive); I observed significant noise pollution at this location. I left this location at 1015 hrs.

My observations at Location 2 began at 1017 hrs and ended at 1032 hrs. Location 2 only yielded one species. Namely the Black-Capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus). I observed some bird seed on the trail itself which may have attracted the species to this location.

My observations at Location 3 began at 1033 hrs and ended at 1048 hrs. Location 3 yielded the most species with a total of four observed. Namely the Black-Capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus), the Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens), the Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata), and the Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis). The Black-Capped Chickadee was the most abundant with approximately eight individuals observed over a 15-minute period. Location 3 was the most diver location due to the bird feeder that was installed by a local not-for-profit organization.

As warming temperatures are on the horizon in this area it would be interesting to observe whether temperature fluctuations have an impact on bird diversity at Location 3. Although Location 3 is influenced by the bird feeder, I believe that results would be best observed at this location as there is a mechanism of attraction to observe as man bird species as possible.

As such, my hypothesis would be: Temperature influences the diversity of bird species on Jack Pine Trail. Thus the null hypothesis would be: Bird species diversity is not influenced by temperature.

Based on this hypothesis, my response variable would be the number of bird species observed while the explanatory variable would be ambient temperature. The number of bird species would be a discrete variable while temperature would be continuous.

Blog Post 2: Sources of Scientific Information

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This study looked at the relationship between ten native bird species and habitat features at two spatial scales relevant to urban residential environments in Arizona. The goal of the study was to explore the interaction between land ownership, presence of bird species, habitat features, and spatial scale.

The authors are both associated with the School of Natural Resources at the University of Arizona. The paper included both in-text citations, and a bibliography at the end of the paper making this an academic paper. There were three referees who reviewed and provided feedback on this paper, making it peer-reviewed literature. Finally, the paper included a methods and results sections making this paper research material.

 

McCaffrey, R.E. And Mannan, R.W. (2011). How scale influences birds’ responses to habitat features in urban residential areas. Landscape and Urban Planning, 105, 274-280.

Blog Post 5 – Design Reflections

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During my initial field data collection efforts at Terwillegar Park, I had no major difficulties implementing the stratified sampling strategy. However, the one difficulty I started to encounter was an increase presence of people and dogs in the park by the time I was finishing up the last point count locations. Due the increased presence of people and dogs present I was encountering disturbance during my 10 minutes of counting birds. Due too this disturbance I have opted to decrease the amount of time spent at each point count location to 5 minutes. I don’t anticipate that decreasing the time spent at each site will have a large effect on the study as I was noticing that I was counting most birds present within the first 5 minutes. Decreasing the time spent will allow me to ensure that each point count location is surveyed with no additional disturbance at the sites later in the morning.

Blog Post 7: Theoretical Perspectives

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Blog Post 7: Theoretical Perspectives

My research project examines the effect of human activity in suburban recreational areas. It specifically examines how dog walking in these parks effects squirrels by observing their abundance. The introduction of a natural predator, such as a domestic dog, can influence prey animals behaviours surrounding feeding, socialization, wariness, and breeding. This research could provide basic knowledge which could indicate areas for further research for wildlife conservation. Results from this study could provide evidence whether domestic dogs should be allowed in wildlife conservation areas depending on the degree of disturbance domestic dogs cause. If it is found that domestic dogs have a great effect on important behaviours of wildlife, further research could be done to identify how many species are affected. If protected species are found in further studies to be significantly affected in their ability to thrive in protected areas, limitations on where and when humans are permitted to walk their dogs could be put in place. Some keywords for my research paper should include wildlife disturbance, domestic dogs, suburbs.

Blog Post 6: Data Collection

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Blog Post 6: Data Collection

The field data collections at the View Royal Park have been occurring over multiple days at various times of the day. Squirrel abundance in response to dog walking has been measured. Data collection started on Saturday, February 23, 2019, while the weather was clear but chilly. following collections happened on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at 10:00, 1330, and 0700 respectively. The weather was clear and windy at approximately 4-5 degrees Celsius.

The predictive variable, dogs, will be organized into intervals of 0-1, 2-4 and 5+ dogs present at the park. The number of squirrels observed within these intervals will be measured and analyzed.

Each interval will be replicated at least 4 times. therefore data collection will continue until each interval (0-1, 2-4 and 5+ dogs at the park) has been noted and squirrel abundance has been measured 4 times within the intervals.

The most difficult part of implementing the sample design is the uncertainty of the number of dogs present at the park at a time. Without the ability to manipulate the number of dogs present data collection must be done over many days and times of the day.

Over four days of data collection patterns appear to support the hypothesis that squirrel abundance declines in presence of dogs as they pose a threat of predation. Although, The outlying intervals of 0-1 and 5+ have much higher replicate data than the median interval of 2-4. Number of humans without dogs in the park have also been collected as a control to show that the decrease in squirrels is not due to humans alone. The number of humans has shown no effect of squirrel abundance so far in data collection.

 

 

Blog Post 3 – On-going Observations

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Site Visit #2 

Date: February 24, 2019 

Weather: -16 degrees Celsius, partly cloudy 

Time: 14:45 

Initial thoughts/Observations: 

Over the last number of weeks since my first visit to Gold Bar Park, I have been doing some review of the literature on methods for point count surveys to determine presence/abundance of individual birds based on habitat cover. During my review and discussion with Nancy, I decided to change my study area to a larger park that would allow my point count locations to be further separate and allow me to have more replicate sites.  

I was finally able to visit my new study area today to review the topography and vegetation types to determine the two habitat areas. The new study area I chose is an urban park within Edmonton, called Terwillegar Park. It is a large city park along a large meander of the North Saskatchewan River with a large forested riparian area and an open area with a few man-made water bodies and scattered trees. When I was walking through the park, I saw the same activity of birds within the forested area compared to the open area.  

During my site visit today I had a chance to review the locations of my four-point count locations sites within both the forested riparian area and the open area.

 

Forest Point Count 4Organism/Biological Attribute of Choice 

I have decided to study the relationship between percent cover and abundance/density of overwintering bird species. 

Hypothesis:  

The abundance and density of overwintering birds is determined by the amount of cover. 

Prediction:  

The greater cover will have greater abundance/density of overwintering bird species. 

Response Variable:  

Bird density/abundance 

Predictor Variable:  

Forest cover 

Data Sheet:

Datasheet

Blog Post 5: Design Reflections

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Blog Post 5,

After reading the Blair article, which is very similar to my experiment and data collection, I realized how my sampling strategy was correct however, I could have replicated my collection not only in time but also in space by observing from different areas in my sample space. There were no difficulties in implementing my sampling strategy, I chose a place close to my home which was easy to frequent as often as I needed. I also picked a species to observe which is easy to spot and count. The results were also not surprising, as my hypothesis was supported by the data. The squirrels are less abundant in areas with high numbers of predator species like dogs. I will continue to collect data the way I have but I will also enter the park from the other entrance, walking into my sample space from another way.

Blog Post 2: Sources of Scientific Information

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I chose the following research article as my source of scientific information: Patch use as an Indicator of Habitat Preference, Predation Risk, and Competition. 

This article is classified as academic, peer-reviewed research material for the following reasons:  

  • Source is considered academic material because: 
    • It was written by experts in the field. The author of the article Joel Brown wrote the article to fulfill the requirements for a doctorate in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Arizona.
    • It included in-text citations throughout the document.
    • There is a bibliography that lists all the sources.
  • It was peer-reviewed by several reviewers and three anonymous reviewers as described in the acknowledgements section.
  • It is research material as it contains both a “Methods” and “Results” section. 

Reference: 

Brown, J.S. 1988. Patch use as an indicator of habitat preference, predation risk and competition. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 22(1):37-44. https://ezproxy.tru.ca/login?url=https://search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.tru.ca/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsjsr&AN=edsjsr.4600116&site=eds-live.  

Blog Post 1: Observations

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Blog Post 1: Observations

Site Visit # 1

  • Observer: Mark Visser
  • Location: Goldbar Park, Edmonton, Alberta
  • Date: January 13, 2019
  • Time: 14:00
  • Weather: -3°C, Clear and Sunny Skies.

The location I have chosen for my field research project is Gold Bar Park located in Edmonton, Alberta on the south bank of the North Saskatchewan River. Gold Bar Park is a City of Edmonton managed park. The entrance to Gold Bar Park is located next to the Gold Bar Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) with the outfall of the WWTP located upstream of the park. The park consists of many kilometres of walking trails (which during the winter months double as cross-country ski trails), picnic shelters, and a washroom facility.

Gold Bar Park can be separated into two ecological communities:

  1. Open Area/Wetland Complex
    • This area in the summer is characterized by a mowed grass field (however the grass field is covered in snow), parking lot, scattered clumps of coniferous/deciduous trees and two man made wetland complexes.
    • Dominant vegetation consisted of shrubs along the boundaries of the wetland and the scattered clumps of trees were dominated by coniferous trees with occasional deciduous trees throughout.
    • Topography in this area was gentle slopes with small rolling hills.
Open Wetland Complex
  1. Forested Riparian Zone
    • This area is a closed canopy riparian forest along the North Saskatchewan River. The dominant vegetation was deciduous trees and shrubs with coniferous trees throughout.
    • An off-leash dog walking trail occurs within the riparian forest at the top of the bank of the North Saskatchewan River.
Riparian Forest

Incidental/Other Observations

  • Ducks observed in the open water area of the North Saskatchewan River downstream of the WWTP.
North Saskatchewan River
  • Red squirrel calling within the riparian forest.
  • Multiple singing Black Capped Chickadee with in the riparian forest.
  • Observed 2 birds within one Wetland Complex.

After visiting the site, the topics I’m interested in further researching would be:

  1. Does the bird species diversity change between the two ecological communities listed above?
  2. Does smell and sound from the WWTP affect abundance of bird densities within the forest adjacent to the WWTP compared to the further you move away from the WWTP?
  3. Do birds prefer to perch in trees with denser cover such as coniferous trees or with less cover such as deciduous trees.
Field Notes – January 13, 2019

Sampling Strategies

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In this exercise I used a virtual forest tutorial to test the accuracy of estimating species abundance using three different sampling techniques: area, random or systematic; distance, random or systematic and finally, Haphazard.

The distance, random or systematic would have been the most efficient model as its estimated time to sample is only 4 hours 43 minutes compared to the other two ranging around 12-13 hours. This is most likely influenced by how spread apart the sample sites are as there are equal sample sites in each method.

Percent error for each sampling technique for the most abundant and most rare species was:

  • Area, random or systematic: Eastern hemlock-  14.9% error. White Pine = 8.3% error
  • Distance, random or systematic: Eastern hemlock = 30.2% error and White pine= 100% (none found)
  • Haphazard, are: Eastern Hemlock= 4.7% and White pine = 90%

The most accurate for abundant species was the Haphazard method at 4.7% error rate. It estimated 448 out of the 469.9 total Eastern Hemlocks in the area. However, this technique over-estimated by double the amount of White Pine. The most effective at the rare species of White Pine was the area, random-sampling technique which had a small error rate of 8.3%. It estimated 7.7 of the 8.4 total White Pine trees. The accuracy trend between abundant and rare species was dependent on the method used. The most constant technique was area, random or systemic where the percent error decreased with the rare but only slightly. The least reliable was the distance, random or systematic which had a high error rate for both species; finally, the haphazard technique had an accurate estimation for abundant species but unreliable estimations for rare species.

24 sampling points allow fairly reliable sampling results for area, random or systematic sampling, but if using the other techniques it would be useful to add more sampling sites to improve estimations of rare species.