Biodiversity

From Living Building Science

Overview

The purpose of this subteam is to monitor and analyze biodiversity around the Kendeda building and observe different factors that affect wildlife on campus.

For the Fall 2020 semester, we have chosen to focus our efforts on birds. Through bird collision monitoring as well as AudioMoth data, we planned at looking at the current status of the bird population at Tech as well as the different factors affecting it.

Bird Collision Monitoring

Birds are an important element of their respective environments. In addition to the intrinsic significance as well as the cultural value that birds possess, they play a vital role in regenerating habitats by pollinating plants and dispersing seeds. Birds control insect and rodent populations, reducing damage to crops and limiting the transmission of diseases. Unfortunately, there collision with windows poses a great threat to these birds. One-third of all bird species in the United States fall victims to bird collisions. It is the second greatest source of mortality due to human action behind domestic cats. If no action is taken to prevent bird collisions, this will result in a significant decrease in bird populations that will ultimately negatively impact the surrounding community as a whole. As part of Kendeda’s effort to be eco and wildlife-friendly, it makes use of bird-safe glass to help undermine this issue. One third of Kendeda’s windows are bird-safe, and that is predominately at the west side of the building, as opposed to the east side’s windows being non bird-safe. Knowing this, we wanted to see if these bird-safe windows were actually as effective as they claim to be. As such, we wanted to answer the question: “How effective are Kendeda’s bird-safe windows at preventing bird collisions as compared to non bird-safe windows at Kendeda and other buildings on campus?”

Methods

Findings

Conclusion and Future Research

Team Members

Name Major Years Active
Ghaith Al Tibi Biology Fall 2020 - Present
Bailey Abel Biology Fall 2020 - Present
Sara Delawalla Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Fall 2020 - Present
Zyra Shahbazi Biology Fall 2020 - Present