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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
http://hdl.handle.net/10090/3641
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| Title: | Examination of the species-area relationship as applied to summer breeding and winter non-breeding bird species in forest fragments on the Eastern Shore of Maryland |
| Authors: | Kraeer, Kimberly Nicole |
| Issue Date: | 11-Jan-2008 |
| Abstract: | The relationship between the area of an oceanic island and the number of species present has
been observed to follow the equation S=CAz, where S is the number of species present, A is the
area of the island, and C and z are constants. In general, the number of species will increase with
increasing area. We tested the species-area relationship for breeding birds in forest fragment
patches on the Eastern Shore of Maryland during the summers of 2004-2006, and these data
appear to follow the equation S= CAz. For this thesis, the relationship between species and area
of the same forest patches used in the summer breeding bird studies are examined for winter nonbreeding
birds. It is hypothesized that there will not be a relationship between species diversity
count and area for non-breeding birds, as the birds are not dividing the forest into breeding
territories. MapSource® technology and handheld GPS units are used to navigate through each
forest fragment, and species present are identified by sight and call. The total number of species
present is used to graph a linear relationship between species and area of log-transformed data.
The results did not support the initial hypothesis; there is a relationship between area of the forest
fragment and number of species present for winter non-breeding birds. Linear regression and
analysis of the data show that there is a positive, significant slope (z). However, there is not a
significant difference in slopes (z values) between breeding and non-breeding populations.
These findings are important as they provide insight to the significance of conserving the size of
forest fragments not only for summer breeding birds, but also for overwintering species |
| Description: | A thesis submitted to the
Department of Biology and
the Program of Environmental Studies
in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of
Bachelor of Science. Spring Semester 2007 Thesis Advisor: Wayne Bell, Ph D. |
| URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/10090/3641 |
| Appears in Collections: | Washington College Environmental Studies Senior Capstone Experience
Washington College Biology Senior Capstone Experience
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Files in This Item:
| File |
Description |
Size | Format |
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| Kraeer_BIO&EST.pdf | | 3032Kb | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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