I made two tables and two graphs to summarize my findings from the completed point counts over two different days. One table simply shows the presence or absence of a species at each pond, the second table shows the raw data from each day and then the overall averages and totals counted. This allowed for me to make the two graphs that I will use to run my ANOVA tests for this study. These graphs show that there are higher levels species richness and total individuals as distance from the shooting range increases. However, three species were seen at both ponds two and three. The averages though show that there is less consistently the three species present at pond 3. So it shows a difference in species richness between the two ponds. Although, without the ANOVA, I do not yet know whether the difference was statistically significant or not so these claims are just assumptions at this point.
I had originally thought I might be able to analyze my data through linear regression graphs. However, since I have grouped my areas into categories (pond 1, pond 2, and pond 3), the linear regression wouldn’t make sense since the change in distance is not consistent. By organizing my data into averages, I will be able to determine if there is a statistically significant difference between locations or not. It will be important to discuss that there are many factors that go into the areas that the avian species frequent that are not directly related to distance from the shooting range, such as salmon density, vegetation present, and water circulation, just to name a few.
