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Document Type

Paper

Publication Date

5-1-2025

Disciplines

Biology

Advisor

Kristina Timmerman

Abstract

Biodiversity plays an essential role in ecosystem stability. Habitat changes from human activities also threaten this role. Our study examined how habitat type and urbanization affect the number of birds and bird diversity across two campuses in central Minnesota. The first campus is rural Saint John’s University (SJU), and the second is suburban College of Saint Benedict (CSB). We predicted that more bird species would be in habitats with water than habitats without water bodies. We also predicted that bird species numbers would be more significant on SJU, which has a large natural area, which CSB lacks. Observations were conducted weekly in prairie (non-water adjacent) and water-adjacent areas at four locations over two months. Data was analyzed with chi-square goodness of fit. We did not find a significant difference in bird numbers between habitat types (χ²=1.080, df=1, p=0.299). We did find a significant difference in the type of bird group found in the habitats (songbirds, corvids, and waterfowl). Based on the data results, songbirds and corvids preferred prairie habitats, while waterfowl preferred water-adjacent areas (songbirds: χ²=6.231, df=1, p=0.012) (corvids: χ²=341.822, df=1, p< 0.0001) (waterfowl: χ²=455.008, df=1, p< 0.0001). Additionally, due to data limitations, we could not draw a clear conclusion about the differences in bird diversity between the two campuses. Our findings highlight the importance of conserving habitats to support bird populations and maintain ecosystem balance. Further research is needed to better understand biodiversity patterns in both urban and rural environments.

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