Yuyao Fan
Research Mentor: Hengxing Zou
Mentor Department: School for Environment and Sustainability, SNRE
Author(s): Not Available
Session: Session 2 (10:00 AM – 10:50 AM)
Presentation Type: Poster 6
Abstract
In temperate regions, winter presents periods of reduced food availability and harsher climatic conditions, creating pressures on local species that may affect interspecific behavior. This project investigates whether facilitative feeding and flocking interactions among mixed bird species occur more frequently during winter months in Michigan, relative to other seasons. Primarily, we ask two main questions. First, do facilitative interactions increase during winter when resources are most limited? Second, which species participate most frequently in these interactions? We hypothesize that facilitative interactions such as mixed foraging and flocking occur significantly more often during winter months. This project uses data from the online birding platform eBird and filters them through a large language model, identifying entries that may contain an interspecies bird interaction. After interaction data sheets are compiled, manually sorted, and converted to CSV format, analyses will be conducted in R. Both Chi-square and Fisher’s exact tests will be carried out to determine if facilitation rates are significantly higher in winter months (e.g., December – February) than in other seasons. This project aims to clarify whether interspecies facilitation among resident birds is influenced by resource limitations in winter months, and if this varies on a per-species basis. Hopefully, the results shed light on whether seasonal conditions contribute to behavioral bird ecology.
