Ariel Chamberlain’s Portfolio

📄 Original Paper on Google Drive

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Ariel Chamberlain

Environmental Studies, Southern New Hampshire University

Ecological Principles and Methods: BIO-315 – R5776

Stefanie A. Kroll, Ph.D.

2023, June 18

Analysis of the correlations between land use and avian biodiversity in Belize


Introduction

An international bird conservation organization wants to purchase some land in Belize to protect local bird populations. The purpose of this analysis is to assist the organization in determining the best land to purchase between four available parcels given their priorities. Biodiversity plays a key role in maintaining natural balance, ecosystem services, and genetic resilience. When it comes to protecting our planet, protecting biodiversity hotspots is a vitally important investment in our future survival as a species, and determining the best sites for conservation often includes an analysis of the local biodiversity.

One of the biggest threats to biodiversity is habitat loss due to anthropogenic land uses. Rurangwa et al. (2021) found that Rwandan forest species tend to be highly sensitive to even small habitat changes, and primary vegetation played a role in maintaining distinct bird communities. Different land uses may favor different species and produce differing amounts of biodiversity. Mahiga et al. (2019) determined that forest-associated birds were more negatively affected by the agricultural conversion of previously forested lands than non-forest birds, and they determined that plantation forests support fewer species of birds relative to indigenous cultivated forests due to the monoculture nature of plantation forests. This analysis will look at how anthropogenic land use differences correlate to bird biodiversity using species richness, relative species abundance, and alpha diversity indices.

Understanding how land use and biodiversity interact in the region could help the conservation organization make more informed decisions on which parcel they choose. However, the final choice may ultimately depend on their goals, like whether they are aiming to protect existing biodiversity or restore habitats with the goal of increasing biodiversity.

Methods