University of Western Ontario Campus Avian Biodiversity
Link to raw data: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1WUaOP3GDRos4jmFgWB-U4gbUTiAp3uYQecOb27sGa1g/edit#gid=0 This assignment consists of two sections: a methods and results portion of a research paper based on the excel data sheet which is data collected from eBird, an online bird data base. The observations were collected in the land surrounding the University of Western Ontario’s campus. Describe the variables in your methods section as well as formula used to create the graphs. Got data from the eBird website. Potential source of error because input was done individually and split up amongst students. One incidence where we noticed a student who had swapped the data columns and we caught that error because the mistake was explicit. For the Methods section we collected the data and conducted the following calculations…… (describe steps and calculations). The results are explaining what those calculations generated. Presenting the results of the research we conducted in the methods section. IE create an abundance histogram. Descriptive text in results if were calculating values. Descriptive text in results should give an overview of the paper. Not intended to interpret the results. Just supposed to generate results and explain our process in the methods. Can create an abundance histogram. Must be descriptive text in a results section. Graphs have more than one value and that must be discussed in the descriptive text. Highlight any anomalies. 2nd file attached (Callaghan et al) is a template of a similar study using eBird date to ask some interesting questions about measuring biodiversity. Good template for this assignments methods and results section with nice tidy figures and graphs. Objective: “generate a depiction(s) of avian diversity on Western’s campus using the class-compiled eBird data.” You are not inventing metrics. You are using the data provided, and deciding on the most appropriate indexes reviewed in Loreau’s chapter. (3rd attachement). X’s on the excel spreadsheet represent incidence data. The observance of a species of bird that was only heard not seen and therefore denoted by an X. The last excel document is an example of someones else’s breakdown of data based on the raw results included at the top of the instructions. The graph / output of data and interpretation CAN NOT BE COPIED. Whole assignment must be between 3-5 pages single spaced with one page being alotted to graphs (minimum two graphs (ex abundance histogram, relative abundance; what proportion of species observed were this species, density; species/area, rank abundance, species abundance, species richness estimators, total richness vs observed richness, singletons vs rare species, etc) Those are just a few examples to analyze the data. Please follow instructions outlined in the assignment 2 instructions pdf file.
