My hypothesis has been changed slightly to better represent the question I am trying to portray, I have decided to use canopy cover as a categorical variable rather than a continuous percentage to make it easily measurable.
My research hypothesis is that closed canopy areas will have fewer bird species present then open canopy areas.
The closed canopy areas are those that are naturalized and have remained void of human disturbance for 10 or more years. The open canopy areas are those that have had complete anthropogenic disturbance due to residential development. Mid canopy areas are those that have linear corridors cleared for narrow recreational pathways, but the surrounding forested areas remain untouched. This hypothesis looks at how anthropogenic disturbances influences the diversity of bird species.
Some ideas that may support this hypothesis is that anthropogenic disturbances due to urbanization are more common in the study area so more generalist bird species which have adapted to more open canopies are common and widespread including chickadees and sparrows. Natural and undisturbed habitats are more scarce making these habitat types more specific and may contain less species because of this.
Three key words that correlate with this research includes; anthropogenic disturbances, species diversity and canopy cover.
You may be able to use the paper from module 4 as a reference for your paper. There is lots of good literature on disturbance and birds as well as urbanization specifically for writing your paper.