THE ECOLOGICAL QUESTION:

Does cowbird brood parasitism reduce songbird numbers?

ECOLOGICAL CONTENT:

brood parasitism, bird community structure, species diversity, endangered species management.

WHAT STUDENTS DO:

Students use a spreadsheet to compare numbers of individuals of up to 40 bird species in sites with and without cowbirds.

SKILLS:

Using a spreadsheet to make figures.

ASSESSABLE OUTCOMES:

Figure from spreadsheet data, written interpretation of data, written analysis of the published paper.

SOURCE:

K. L. De Groot and J. N. M. Smith. 2001. Community-wide impacts of a generalist brood parasite: the brown-headed cowbird (Molothrus ater). Ecology 82: 868-881. Ecological Archives E082-010-A1 (www.esapubs.org/archive/ecol/E082/010/default.htm)

AUTHOR:

Charlene D'Avanzo, School of Natural Sciences, Hampshire College, Amherst, MA, 01002, cdavanzo@hampshire.edu

Brown-Headed Cowbird, Copyright - Colorado Division of Wildlife {wildlife.state.co.us/ species_profiles/cowbird.asp}