Committee Chair

Aborn, David

Committee Member

Shaw, Joey; Wilson, Thomas

Department

Dept. of Biology, Geology, and Environmental Science

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Place of Publication

Chattanooga (Tenn.)

Abstract

Predation is believed to be the primary cause of nesting mortality among North American migratory land birds. High rates of nest predation can jeopardize avian reproductive biology by affecting life histories and habitat selection. Artificial nests are commonly used to study nest predation because they allow the researcher to investigate comparative treatments and their impact on predation. Relative nest predation was studied at Audubon Acres in Chattanooga, TN using artificial nests. The study investigated differences in habitat types,nest heights, egg types, and predator types.

Acknowledgments

Numerous people were instrumental in the completion of this research. A special thank you goes out to the entire University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Biological and Environmental Sciences Department, whose continued guidance and instructive courses have been crucial to my educational development. I am grateful to Dr. Margaret Kovach for her guidance in determining that this project need not be governed by an Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. Peter Murphy, with DuPont, has provided invaluable advice and encouragement throughout the pursuit of this degree, for which I am incredibly grateful. Thanks to my friend, Paul Higdon, for his assistance during the field study portion of this project. The guidance provided by Dr. John Tucker and Dr. Mark Schorr, in dealing with the Graduate School to ensure that I met all the necessary requirements for graduation, was greatly appreciated. Dr. Schorr also provided guidance on the appropriate statistics needed for the data analysis. I would also like to thank Lucinda Taylor for always listening and providing helpful advice. My deepest thanks goes to my thesis committee, Dr. David Aborn, Dr. Joey Shaw, and Dr. Thomas Wilson for their continued guidance and constructive comments; they have each contributed to the betterment of this thesis project in their own individual way and for that, I am truly grateful. Finally, I would like to thank the Chattanooga Audubon Society for allowing me to conduct this research at Audubon Acres. It has been a pleasure to work at Audubon Acres over the last two years; it is truly one of Hamilton County's best kept secrets.

Degree

M. S.; A thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Science.

Date

12-2007

Subject

Birds--Effect of predation on--Tennessee; Predation (Biology); Birds--Breeding

Discipline

Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment

Document Type

Masters theses

DCMI Type

Text

Extent

vi, 41 leaves

Language

English

Call Number

LB2369.2 .L364 2007

Rights

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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