- The biological attribute I plan to study is the diversity of bird species on a fruit bearing versus a non-fruit bearing tree.
- Locations along the gradient will include areas facing North, North-East, and North-West. Within each view direction I will look at areas along the top centers of the trees, right and left sides approximately halfway up the treem and right and left edges along the lower branches. Along these gradients there are different numbers of berries (on the mountain ash) and leaves (on the Lilac tree) distributed differently.
- Underlying processes involved in patterns of number of birds, or species of birds could be related to the resource available, ie: the presence and abundance of berries. Another process could be the nutrient value, the more valuable the nutrients the more species are attracted to. Habitat cover could be another process involved in the number and diversity of birds found on these trees. Thus, this leads to my hypothesis: Does the presence of food resources influence the number of diversity of bird species found near those resources?
- The response variable is the number of species observed. The response variable is categorical. The explanatory variable is the presence or absence of a food resource. The explanatory variable is categorical.
