Samantha Luke
Research Mentor(s): Hengxing Zou
Mentor Department: School for Environment and Sustainability
Authors: Samantha Luke, Hengxing Zou
Session: Session 3 (11:00am – 11:50am)
Presentation Type: Poster 29
Abstract
Spurred by the urbanization of society, the spaces animals occupy and their relationship to other things in those spaces has been steadily changing. While much research has been done on the impact of urbanization on biodiversity, it has yet to be seen how this trend affects, if at all, individual species like the Blue Jay and its interactions with other bird species. This study involves the analysis of several hundred comments describing interspecies interactions involving Blue Jays from the birding platform eBird, run by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Sorted into urban and rural areas, hypothesis testing was performed using R. While it is still too early to draw conclusions, the interactions described in both urban and rural areas predominantly consist of mobbing, a practice in which birds gather to harass a potential predator. It should be noted, however, that the comments used were written by birders with vastly different levels of experience and interest, which may mean that not all interactions were reported or recognized by users. Nonetheless, research focused on individual species provides nuance to our understanding of the impacts of urbanization and can provide important information for policy makers and other concerned parties on how to mitigate negative effects whilst our society continues to develop.
