Biodiversity of wintering seabirds and coastal waterfowl at Lake Clark National Park

Term

2011

Capstone

Thesis

Degree Name

MAED: NSEE

Abstract

This study aims to examine the following scientific inquiry: does the Lake Clark National Park coastline support significant species biodiversity of wintering seabirds? A null hypothesis of no statistical biodiversity (below the value of 1 on Shannon Diversity Index) and an alternative hypothesis of significant biodiversity (above 1 on the index) were established. A team of three individuals conducted research in order to examine this question on January 10, 2011. Aerial transects were used to gather species presence data, which was then analyzed for species richness, species distribution, community similarities, species abundance, species density, and species diversity. A variety of mathematical formulae and mapping techniques were used. Results indicated a significant level of biodiversity. This data provides insight into wintering coastal avian populations, which can be integrated with future monitoring efforts to study avian survival rates and/or distribution patterns.

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