
General Methadology for Instructors and TAs
Exercise 7: Predation Pressure and Avian Behavioral Ecology
Module 7: Consumers: Herbivory, Predation, and Parasitism
- Instructor gives the biological background during lecture on behavioral ecology.
- Lay the groundwork for the exercise quickly talk about some central tenets of behavioral ecology.
- Quick introduction to the basic biology of the species being studied
- Birds of the eastern deciduous forest likely to visit the feeders: chickadees, nuthatches, downy woodpeckers, goldfinches
- Independent and Dependent variables in the experiment: distance from cover and various behaviors
- Students will break into several groups, with each group working on different behaviors (e.g. feeding rate, vigilance, time at feeder, group size, etc)
- Possible field methodology
- Feeders set up the week (or more) before by TAs. Food maintained at feeders/
- Three to five feeders should be set up at varying distances from the forest edge.
- Teams of students will observe various behaviors of visiting birds for a period of 1-3 hrs.
- Return to computer lab, analyze relationship of various behaviors to predation pressure.
- Present the work as an oral or written report at the end of the day