My initial data in Module 3 had too many variables that were confounding. The pond sizes are different, there are people at each park, however the activity levels are the same. The count of people is a little different but not by enough to observe differences for my suggested observations. Also, I had not defined what human activity level was clearly enough. The data was not surprising, it showed nothing more than the duck count and the human count. I will not continue with the same data collection. I will be adjusting my observations. I have been observing these three parks for the past two months with collecting the wrong information. The more I observed the ducks, human activity has little effect on the ducks, this could be conditioning, and the habitat has normalised the interaction between ducks and humans that there is little to observe. I believe human activity does play a big role in the duck’s habitat; however, it is more with the man-made storm basins, people feeding them, and maintenance of the sites. It is less with the momentary interactions and activity level. I think I will pivot a little and observe ducks over pond size. I can do point counts on the different gradients of each park. As they are all similar size of parks, with different sizes of each gradient. I will count ducks in the pond, in the side of the pond with brush/cover, the embankment, the running creek into each pond, and the adjacent fields. There are ducks at each one, however, the ducks seem to prefer the larger pond. Each pond has similar aquatic traits, the vegetation around the ponds is similar and the access to human disturbance is similar. I hypothesise that Ducks prefer habitats with larger bodies of water. These larger bodies provide more forging space and protection from disturbance. I will measure the presence/absence of humans in the areas. I will count humans in the water (unlikely to be any), humans on the walkways/ humans in the fields. I will not count humans on the streets or sidewalks adjacent to the parks. I will take observations at the three parks in each gradient twice a day for 5 days. I will do a count each morning and evening. I believe these change will give me a better ability to do an observational study.
Sounds like some good adjustments and the human disturbance count will be to show that it is similar at each pond and the main difference is pond size? I look forward to your next assignment.