Mike Salisbury UR - Hello Goodbye

How do anthropogenic disturbances alter bird species number and diversity on Volusia County beaches? 

During my project I recorded the following:

Bird Types: Gulls and terns, shorebirds, wading birds, misc. birds (pelicans, ospreys, etc.)

Bird disturbances: Cars, bikes, adults, children, motor vehicles, fishermen, feeding

Disturbance = If the bird shows signs of distress or moves approximately 3 ft. or more because of human interference.  

I made 10 minute observations at three sites:

          A.      North of 27th Ave. – Beach driving

          B.      South of 27th Ave. – No beach driving, but usually a crowded beach

          C.      30th Ave. –No beach driving, less people (not a very popular location due to lack of street parking)

The locations

My trusty field notebook 

Bird identification pamphlet that I made 

I haven’t graphed my data yet, but I’m planning on having a few graphs done by next week. This has been a really interesting project:

•  Site C (no beach driving, less anthropogenic disturbances) has shown the most diversity in species
• Many seabirds opportunistically feed on anthropogenic food, garbage, etc.
• Adult disturbances seem to be the most common type 

I’m excited to graph the data!  

Hello Goodbye!