Taveira et al. 2024. Wildlife prefer use of forest habitat over deforested area at Blind Brook restoration site

By Anabela Taveira (primary author), Marley Simon, Kacy Reinhardt, Dr. Allyson Jackson

 

Abstract


Urban expansion frequently leads to the destruction of natural habitats and causes widespread loss of biodiversity. It is crucial that we protect biodiversity, and this includes making conservation efforts on the local level. Blind Brook Restoration Site, an old growth forest on SUNY Purchase campus, was partially cut down to connect a sewer line to a new residential development. Our goal was to study how wildlife use the intact forest habitat and the cut region differently. We hypothesized that the number of species (richness), spread of different species (diversity), and overall abundance of wildlife would be lower in the cut area than in the forest. We set up multiple trail cameras in both habitats and collected 2 weeks worth of photographic data. We recorded our observations and calculated the Shannon Diversity Index, richness and abundance of both habitats. We found that our hypotheses regarding diversity and richness were mostly unsupported, as richness and diversity were nearly the same in both habitats, and diversity was slightly higher in the cut area. However, the difference in abundance was staggering, as hundreds more animals were observed in the forest. Our findings indicate that overall, wildlife prefer their natural, undisturbed habitat over land that has been destroyed by human expansion.

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