lap report

Fatema Alkhafaji

Prey Predation of Birds Nest

Middle Tennessee State University

Introduction:

The title is called Birds nest and the title is relevant because we worked as a group during the lab. Yes supporting research is used to justify broader aspects. Predation is the ecological process by which energy is transferred from living animal to living animal based on the behavior of a predator that captures and kills a prey before eating it. Predators occupy the upper levels of food chains. This top position helps explain their generally low density, frequently spaced distribution, and usually small total biomass. In terms of conservation, this is sometimes critical for the survival of local predator populations. Effective predation requires structural, functional, and behavioral adaptations whose nature depends on the general bodily organization and size of the predator, the kind of predatory strategy adopted, the general environmental conditions where predation is practiced, and the defensive strategies of the available prey (Minelli, A.). Comment by SNH: Delete these sentence. Scientific paper usually written using third person style. Make sure you use third person style through out the paper Comment by SNH: Need year or page, depend on the format you use, MLA or APA.

I believe the purpose is clear, my study is different from others because my study was over birds' nests and there are a lot more things to study about other than the birds nest. The prey of house finch was studied. New research about feeder birds and House Finch eye disease (mycoplasmal conjunctivitis) reveals an interesting link between behavior and disease transmission. Previous evidence suggested that the bacterium was spread by birds that had the most social connections. A research team from Virginia Tech outfitted wild flocks of House Finches with transmitter chips that recorded their feeder behavior and discovered that the birds that visited feeders with the greatest frequency were the most likely to contract and spread the eye disease(Says, Emmet). That doesn’t mean we should stop feeding the birds, House finch eye disease has been present since the early 1990s and biologists think it has reached somewhat of an equilibrium in the eastern House Finch population; only 5-10% of individuals are thought to be infected, and House Finch populations seem to be doing well overall. So, you don’t have to stop feeding birds, but there are some precautions you can take if you are concerned about the disease at your feeders.(Says, Emmet). Comment by SNH: This paragraph should be about house finch predation, nest, clutch size, behavior or any information related to predation. Comment by SNH: Add a paragraph about the objectives and hypothesis.

Methods and Materials:

In the lab we worked as a group and gathered the materials we needed to create nests and eggs. We created 16 nests by using coconut fiber, stapler and 16 cut hard wire, and for the eggs we made 32 eggs by using blue clay. After creating the nests and eggs we placed hard wires for tying the nests on the trees and ground, we also placed colored tape for identifying where we placed the nests and which one is ours. We also laced extra gloves to use when touching the clay eggs. As a group we went to the flat rock and started placing the nests on the trees and ground and used hard wires to keep them still in their places. Our hypothesis was the height differences between the tree and ground, the higher the nest it is the less predated. Comment by SNH: How high, how far apart? Did you place nest randomly or using a pattern? Comment by SNH: Move it to introduction. It is better to state the null hypothesis. Comment by SNH: How were data collected? What statistical analysis used to evaluate the data

Data	High nest	Low nest	Total
Predation	12	13	25
No Predation	4	3	7
Total	16	16	32

Table 1: Results from Week 1 and Week 2 Combined Comment by SNH: Need to add sentences explain your data and sum of the chi square.

Discussion:

The results do tie back to the introduction. Research implications are basically the conclusions that you draw from your results and explain how the findings may be important for policy, practice, or theory. However, the implications need to be substantiated by evidence and the study's parameters need to be explained and the limitations taken into account to avoid over-generalization of results (Sachdev, Rishibaha). Comment by SNH: Interpret your finding and discuss the comparison with existing results form other researchers (any information you cited in the intro.)

The limitations of the study have many factors. No doubt that many researchers have narrowed the factors that could easily attract predators attention such as the area/habitat that contains the objective reasons for species to search, species that are residents within the location that can sense the availability for something unusually present and so on with eggs, food traps, camouflaging an environmental scene. These elements might not be certain facts to make a difference but indeed, they are factors that could lead to results for an ecological experiment, such as Nest Predation in Birds (Belthoff). For instance, one of the limitations that affected our project was when two of our group members touched the clay eggs without wearing gloves accidentally. Also the weather was a major problem for me in the third or second week. I am not sure which one it was but because it was raining and cold so I had trouble because I came in not prepared for the weather. As a result I had a great group to work with and had fun experiencing this course. Comment by SNH: What were the limitations when you did this project? Comment by SNH: Add year (and/or page) see MLA vs APA Comment by SNH: How to improve the project for future research? Then add concluding sentences related to the main point of the paper.

References Comment by SNH: Try to find resources from scientific journals, books, or more reliable resources. Also make sure if you add hyperlink, the links work.

Sachdev, Rishibha, and Radhika Shridhar. “In Research, What Is the Difference between Implication and Recommendation?” Editage Insights, 16 Apr. 2019, https://www.editage.com/insights/in-research-what-is-the-difference-between-implication-and-recommendation .

says, Emmet, et al. “New Research Links House Finch Behavior at Feeders to the Acquisition and Spread of Eye Disease.” FeederWatch, 24 Sept. 2015, https://feederwatch.org/blog/new-research-links-house-finch-behavior-at-feeders-to-the-acquisition-and-spread-of-eye-disease/#:~:text=A%20research%20team%20from%20Virginia,and%20spread%20the%20eye%20disease. Comment by SNH: This blog is not relevant to your project. Try something like: "Do clay eggs attract predators to artificial nest?" "Using artificial nests to study predation", or find more relevant papers from google scholar, etc

“Predation Experiments.” Predation Experiments, 30 Mar. 2016, https://serc.si.edu/projects/predation-experiments/predation-experiments .