My study looks at how the presence or absence of birds affects bird species richness and abundance. I am exploring whether birds view domestic house dogs as a threat. The ecological process I am using is predator-prey interactions in an urban setting. A dog’s presence in a backyard may affect the behavior and presence of birds as they may view the dogs as predators and may try to avoid the yard. Do visual or auditory cues from the dog affect the birds? As urbanization continues to grow it is important to understand how this affects the animals in these areas. This research will give insight into urban ecology as this is already a very complicated field. There could be ways to watch our pets in a way that helps increase bird diversity in urban environments.
The three keywords I would use to describe my research project are: Urban ecology, bird species richness, Predator-prey interactions.