Impact of Cowbird Brood Parasitism on an Avian Community

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This data set can be used to determine the effect cowbird brood parasitism has on a songbird population. It includes notes for students as well as instructions for faculty.

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Primary or BEN resource type	Dataset
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Format	html
Ecological Core Concept	Interspecific interactions -- Parasitism and disease Interspecific interactions Communities -- Species composition, abundance, and diversity Communities
Drought & Water-Ecosystem Services Collection	Off
Conservation Targets Under Global Change Collection	Off
Big Data Collection	Off
Editor's Choice	No
Audience	Undergraduate upper division 15-16 Undergraduate lower division 13-14
Pedagogical Use Description	This data set could be used in discussions of community ecology (species diversity), species interactions (brood parasitism), and management of an endangered bird species (the Kirtland's Warbler). It would also be a nice comparison with other removal studies showing great effects on community composition - e.g. Paine's starfish removals. This is a fairly straightforward data set concerning possible effects of brown-headed cowbirds on songbird species diversity. Brood parasitism is a captivating phenomenon, and the idea that cowbirds negatively impact their hosts is a "truth" for most students who are familiar with cowbirds. Another attractive aspect of the study is that De Groot and Smith test this idea in two ways - 1) by comparing songbird composition for birds that accept cowbirds with community composition of birds that do not accept the parasites and 2) by comparing bird composition in sites with and without cowbirds. Their hypothesis that songbird richness and evenness would be higher in cowbird removal sites was not supported. In addition, the proportion of suitable cowbird hosts did not decrease much in the cowbird removal locations. This is a good opportunity for students to see that even hypotheses that seem so likely must sometimes be rejected. In addition, this recent paper (2001) is the first on effects of a brood parasite on community composition, which will also surprise students.
Keywords	species diversity, community, diversity, biodiversity, brood parasitism, endangered species, management, songbird
Key taxa	cowbird
Life science discipline (subject)	Ecology
Primary Author Controlled Name	Charlene D'Avanzo
Primary Author Affiliation	School of Natural Sciences, Hampshire College
Primary Author email	cdavanzo@hampshire.edu
Rights	2004 - Charlene D'Avanzo, and the Ecological Society of America
Resource Editor	Unknown
Reviewer A	Unknown
Reviewer B	Unknown
Date Of Record Submission	2004-02-22

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