EM353 Nest Predation in a Fragmented Landscape Assignment Sample

• Subject Code : EM353
• University : University of New England My Assignment Services is not sponsored or endorsed by this college or university.
• Subject Name : Biology

Conservation Biology

Abstract on Conservation Biology

This practical research paper conducted an analysis on the topic of nest predation in the fragmented landscape. For this paper, West Africa has been chosen as the fragmented landscape. The effect of landscape fragmentation of the nest predation in West Africa is amended in this paper. The nest predation rate in West Africa depends upon the edge distance, which is also discussed with evidence in this research. In this study, the qualitative research approach has been selected and due to this, the scholar collected information from journals and researched articles. This study found that edge distance impacts on the survival of the nest predation. Time or season, and habitat fragmentation are the major players of nest predation. Through nest predation, the reproduction level can be maintained in the neo-tropical bird community in the fragmented area for maintaining bio-diversity.

Table of Contents

Introduction.

Brief Background of the Research.

Rationale of the Paper

Research Aim and Objectives.

Literature Review..

Methods.

Results.

Discussion and Conclusion.

References.

Introduction to Conservation Biology

Brief Background of the Research

One of the main promising causes of the reduction of birds’ reproduction is nest predation. Natural calamities, change in the landscape and other modifications have created an impact on the survival of nest. Besides, it can be stated that the rate of avian nest predation is directly influenced by various factors, such as habitat fragmentation at the regional level, and various local-scale factors. Nest predation is an important factor, which plays a significant role in the reduction or extinction of local birds in fragmented landscapes. Distance from the forest edge, size of the fragmented forest, and timeframe directly influence the artificial nest predation.

Rationale of the Paper

Human development throughout the world brings a change in the landscape, which impacts on the nest predation. Fragmentation in forests is the reason for the increment of the forest edge and it affects the forest surroundings. Artificial and natural nest predations are influenced by the forest edge and internal forest environment. The forest size, edge, and environment directly affect the habitat choice of predatory species. On the other hand, with the supports of existing previous research works, it can be stated that for reducing the reproduction of neo-tropical bird species in the fragmented landscape, the importance of nest predation is truly unpredictable. This practical research report tries to conduct an in-depth and coherent analysis of the nest predation in a fragmented landscape, which is also considered as the rationale of this definite research report. Based on the paper’s rationale, aim, and objectives are constructed, which are provided in the following section. 

Research Aim and Objectives

For this definite research work, the selected place is West Africa. This practical paper aims to determine the effect of forest fragmentation of West Africa on the nest predation in the context of patch scale and landscape. Objectives are designed by the researcher in order to structure the research work.

• To study the impact of landscape fragmentation of nest predation in West Africa
• To identify the effect of edge on the nest predation rate in West Africa
• To explore the role of artificial nest predation in the reduction of neo-tropical migrant bird species in West Africa

Literature Review of Conservation Biology

According to Sedláček et al., (2014), forest interior and forest edge are responsible for the maximization of the nest predation rate. Due to the increased nesting morality, the population of birds in a specific fragmented landscape affected. In the perception of Hollander et al., (2015), forest edge primarily affected the interior of the northern forests of the world. There are some studies, which portrayed that forest edge did not create any impact on the predation rate. On the other hand, from the extracted information valid data sources, it can be stated that forest edge effects on the nest predation of the African forest. In accordance with Gibbons,(2018), the scholar has been conducted research on eight common bird species in the eastern part of Africa and from where the researcher found that edge effect the nest predation. 

Simultaneously, according to the viewpoint of Sosa and De Casenave,(2017), habitat structure affected the mechanism of nest predation, so it can be said that the success or failure of nest predation depends upon the habitat structure. Pass et al., (2019) argued that for protecting neo-tropical bird species in tropical regions, forest departments of the various countries wanted to apply the nest predation approach. Apart from this, the montane forests of West Africa generally protected bird species and it is merely found that there are very limited birds, which are under endemic bird species. Consequent ecological changes take place in the dramatic habitat area and these types of changes impact the nest survival. Artificial nest also creates a significant impact on the habitat changes, so the survival of artificial nests highly depends upon the habitat change and fragmented landscapes. From the previously published research papers, it can be comprehended that habitat patch and fragmented landscapes are the major active factors, which influence natural and artificial nest predation for reducing the reproductive nature of neo-tropical birds (Howell, Alarcón and Minckley, 2017). 

Methods of Conservation Biology

In order to explore the impact of nest predation in the fragmented landscape of the West African forest, this practical report mainly concentrates on the qualitative research approach, because it is suitable for this research. By employing the concept of a deductive approach, this paper can be able to successfully examine the set assumptions of the scholars in order to reach the objectives (Mohajan, 2018). This research method supports the associate of the report to generate new and innovative research theory, which changes the dimension of nest predation. From numerous branches of research philosophy, this paper has chosen interpretivism research philosophy. For efficiently interpreting gathered qualitative information, this definite philosophy is the most appropriate one. While applying this method, the scholar can use his logical skills to efficiently analyze the data to determine the impact of nest predation in controlling the reproduction of birds in the selected fragmented area (Bresler and Stake, 2017). 

An explanatory research design is the selected design for this project, where the scholar’s responsibility is to efficiently interpret to meet the research purpose. As the qualitative research approach is chosen, so the scholar primarily emphasizes on the secondary data collection process. After taking the permission of authors, the scholar gathered valid and valuable information from published journals, researched articles, and others. The scholar checks the validity of the information before the data extraction (Tarr, Gonzalez-Polledo and Cornish, 2018). Due to this, the research fieldworker preferred to collect information from current sources. Through using graphs from secondary sources, the scholar analyzed the data by his own skills. Descriptively, the researcher analyzed the gathered information. Apart from these research methods, the scholar also put his extraordinary concentration in protecting the confidentiality of the research paper. For this reason, the scholar did not provide any information regarding the interpretation process of gathered data, and collection of data to other researchers. Honest and transparent attitude have been generally selected by the researcher in order to carry out the research systematically (Mohajan, 2018).

Results of Conservation Biology

For commercial purposes, artificial nests are manufactured, which are made with woven straw. Each artificial nest contains one plasticine egg. Distance from forest edge directly influences the placement of artificial nest. The application of plasticine egg helps to segregate predators into two segments, such as avian and mammalian. Size is one of the factors, which creates an impact on nest predation (Beggs et al., 2019). From various studies, it can be stated that this particular factorial variable is non-significant in the context of nest predation in the West African fermented forest. Similarly, it can be said that the edge is another factorial variable, which has not impacted the nest predation. Therefore, it can be argued that no such significant connection is present between the forest edge and nest predation in the fragmented landscapes (Oja et al., 2018; Howell, Alarcón and Minckley, 2017). The variation on nest predation depends upon the time or season. The predation rate is lowest in the middle of April and it increased after the May-June session.

This above figure portrayed the graphical information on nest predation in different distances and nest types. The shaded bar denotes the ground nest and the clear or white bar signifies tree nest. Distance from 5 meters from the forest edge, there are 25 ground nests within the forest and 20 tree nests. From 5 meters to 25 meters, 13 ground nests and 28 tree nests had been implanted. Twenty and fifteen nests have placed within 25 meters to 50 meters in the fragmented area for controlling the breeding of neo-tropical bird species. This previously depicted figure provides information that time difference and space distance have a significant relationship on nest predation of West Africa.

On the other hand, after the interpretation of various studies, it can be commented that the survival of nest predation, especially artificial nest predation is less than the natural nest predation because, through artificial nest predation, the forest department tries to attract specific predators. The open cup nest functions are not affected by the habitat fragmentation on the selected landscape (Kaiser, 2017). Therefore, the failure of artificial nest predation did not depend upon the habitat fragmentation. From the experiment of this particular study, it can be stated that the predation rate of the artificial nest and natural nest is quite similar in the fragmented landscape. Moreover, this paper revealed that the predation rate is higher in that area, which is close to the forest edge. The predation rate is higher in edge area as compare to interior areas of the chosen fragmented landscape, i.e. West Africa. With the help of this particular paper, the fragmented landscape is an insignificant determinant of nest predation, where for artificial nest predation, the effect of forest edge is important (Sedláček et al., (2014)).

There are uncountable factors, which directly concentrated on nest survival. Habitat fragmentation is one of the factors among those influential factors, which reduces the nest survival of the tropical bird community in fragmented areas.

From figure 3, it can be stated that the distance of edge is accountable for the reduction of the predation rates. The predation rate is higher the edge area as compare to the forest interior of the fragmented landscape. Moreover, it can be observed from this definite research work that ground nest is less predated than tree nest (Sosa and De Casenave, 2017). 

Discussion and Conclusion on Conservation Biology

For maintaining the migrant birds’ reproduction in the tropical fragmented area, nest predation is one of the ways. The Survival of nest predation depends upon various factors, such as edge, landscape fragmentation, change in natural elements, and others. Apart from these factors, size is another promising factor, which directly influences the nest predation process artificially. The change in the landscape generally happened because of human development. Forest edge directly influenced the natural and artificial nest predation. The habitat fragmentation also depends upon the forest edge, size, breeding season, and forest environment.

By using the concept of qualitative research strategy, the research fieldwork designed the data collection process. Valuable information is gathered from secondary authentic data sources, such as recently published articles and journals. From this study, it can be asserted that the survival of artificial nest predation is comparatively less than nature nest predation. The open cup nest shape has not created any impact on the habitat fragmentation. The predation rate is same in both natural and artificial nest predation. Predation rates s higher in those areas, which are near towards the edge of the forest, and in the interior area, the predation rate is minimal. Habitat fragmentation reduces the reproduction in the bird community in West African fragmented areas. The ground nest has less capability than the tree nest in the context of nest predation from the above descriptions, it can be stated that this practical report is successfully able to accomplish the research objectives.

References for Conservation Biology

Beggs, R., Pierson, J., Tulloch, A.I., Blanchard, W., Westgate, M.J. and Lindenmayer, D., 2019. An experimental test of a compensatory nest predation model following lethal control of an overabundant native species. Biological Conservation, 231, pp.122-132.

Bresler, L. and Stake, R.E., 2017. Qualitative research methodology in music education. In Critical Essays in Music Education (pp. 113-128). Routledge.

Chmel, K., Riegert, J., Paul, L., Mulau, M., Sam, K. and Novotny, V., 2018. Predation on artificial and natural nests in the lowland rainforest of Papua New Guinea. Bird Study, 65(1), pp.114-122.

Gibbons, S., 2018. The effects of forest fragmentation on avian nest predation in the Monteverde region.

Hollander, F.A., Van Dyck, H., San Martin, G. and Titeux, N., 2015. Nest predation deviates from nest predator abundance in an ecologically trapped bird. PloS One, 10(12).

Howell, A.D., Alarcón, R. and Minckley, R.L., 2017. Effects of habitat fragmentation on the nesting dynamics of desert bees. Annals of the Entomological Society of America, 110(2), pp.233-243.

Kaiser, J., 2017. Estimating Predator Density and Activity within a Fragmented Landscape (Doctoral dissertation, Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville).

Mohajan, H.K., 2018. Qualitative research methodology in social sciences and related subjects. Journal of Economic Development, Environment and People, 7(1), pp.23-48.

Newmark, W.D. and Stanley, T.R., 2011. Habitat fragmentation reduces nest survival in an Afrotropical bird community in a biodiversity hotspot. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108(28), pp.11488-11493.

Oja, R., Pass, E., Soe, E., Ligi, K., Anijalg, P., Laurimaa, L., Saarma, U., Lõhmus, A. and Valdmann, H., 2018. Increased nest predation near protected capercaillie leks: a caveat against small reserves. European journal of wildlife research, 64(1), p.6.

Pass, E., Lodjak, J., Mägi, M. and Lõhmus, A., 2019. Complex habitat patterns create unpredictable nest predation risk-an artificial nest experiment. Ornis Fennica, 96(4).

Sedláček, O., Mikeš, M., Albrecht, T., Reif, J. and Hořák, D., 2014. Evidence for an edge effect on avian nest predation in fragmented afromontane forests in the Bamenda-Banso Highlands, NW Cameroon. Tropical Conservation Science, 7(4), pp.720-732.

Sosa, R.A. and De Casenave, J.L., 2017. Edge effect on bird nest predation in the fragmented caldén (Prosopis caldenia) forest of central Argentina: an experimental analysis. Ecological research, 32(2), pp.129-134.

Tarr, J., Gonzalez-Polledo, E. and Cornish, F., 2018. On liveness: using arts workshops as a research method. Qualitative Research, 18(1), pp.36-52.

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