My research project underwent many initial redesigns, from changing the study area to changing the organism being study. First, I’d say when given the choice, study something you like working with! In my case I thought I would start with ground cover in the forest in an attempt to “broaden” my horizons and learn something new. Unfortunately, I realized plants aren’t interesting and I reverted to my love of birds.
My final research project focused on bird species richness across various age classes of Coastal Western Hemlock forest. My hypothesis was that there would be a difference in bird species richness and that richness would decrease as the forest and the coniferous trees grew older. This was not the outcome of my project and a statistical analysis indicated that there was no difference in bird species richness. I think for future studies there could be a variety of avenues explored including whether the habitat I chose as different in age-class truly was? In other words, are two-year-old trees and the plants growing in this habitat at the same stage in succession and the 11-year-old trees and plants? They obviously look different when you are standing amongst them, but they make not actually be. From my literature search, it seems they may actual be the same, however I did not do a thorough search of forest ecology.
Another route of study could be the size of the habitat patch for each of the different age-classes of forest. How big does the patch need to be to avoid edge effects? My literature search, although not in depth on this subject as well, seems to indicate that the habitat I used may not be big enough to avoid that, and my research results seem to indicate that as a potential cause for why I saw generalist birds in a forest where I expected to see mostly specialists.
Another avenue for study could be a better look at generalist bird species and what resources they are using in each of the habitats, or what might be bringing them into a habitat where they were observed. One example from my research was an Anna’s Hummingbird being observed in the mature forest. From my observations of the area, I did not see any flowers that the hummingbird would have been feeding one. Perhaps the forest is where it builds a nest?
Overall, my research left me with more questions to consider and maybe that is a good lesson for ecology students, or even researchers working in the field. When looking at an organism, you need to look at the ecosystem as a whole to really understand all the interactions and effects a change might have, including ones that you may not anticipate.