Questions And Topics We Can Help You To Answer

(10 point Times New Roman font, 1 page in length not counting your title header or literature cited and 1 inch margins). Go to the USGS Bird Population (HYPERLINK "http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/bbs/bbs.html"www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/bbs/bbs.html) database (pay particular attention to the distributions section). Find the following species on the list.

Hooded Merganser

Great Blue Herron 

Wood Stork 

American Robin 

Using the information provided in the website, answer the following questions. Assuming that generalist/opportunistic species are widespread and more or less uniformly distributed, which of these species would you categorize as generalists and which might be specialists with narrow niche preferences or environmental tolerance ranges? Pay special attention to the species climate range, presence in densely populated areas, and evenness of their distribution throughout their range. You may want to look at the precipitation, biome, and climate maps across their range. Also, their diet also helps because a specialist eats only one or two things while a generalist may eat several different prey items. I would also suggest you do a Google search of each species to gather more information. Submit your paper to the appropriate folder in the Dropbox area of the course. There are right and wrong classifications on this assignment.

Environmental Science, A Global Concern. Cunningham, W.P., M. Cunningham, and B.W. Saigo. 2014. 13th Edition. McGraw-Hill, Publishers, New York, NY.