My research is focused on bird species richness across an environmental gradient, namely, three different ages classes of Coastal Western Hemlock (CWH) forest on Vancouver Island, BC. The difference I age class comes from different stages of growth after being logged and replanted. I am looking to determine whether there is a difference (or preference) in habitat use by bird species in the study area, and if so what might be influencing that use. Some factors being consider are competition for resources (including food), stage(s) of succession, and classification of the species (generalist versus specialist). Other considerations may be the size of each habitat patch and effects of habitat fragmentation.
My initial review of my results indicates that there is not a statistically significant different in habitat use based on richness (number of species). However, the mature forest bird species observed indicates more specialists in addition to the generalist, some of which I didn’t anticipate seeing. This presence and the habitat size is leading me to think more patch size and edge effects.
Keywords: species richness; habitat fragmentation; disturbance; edge effects; succession; specialists; generalists