Study Area
City of Vancouver
I decided to research bird populations in urban environments within the context of the city of Vancouver because of the diversity of birds that call Vancouver home and the current state of the city. I’m sure we are all well aware that Vancouver is a beautiful, world renowned city that attract millions of people as an ideal living location. This is evidenced by the recent increase in immigration rates and the skyrocketing housing prices. As more people want to live in Vancouver, the city has continued to rapidly expand and develop.
Despite growing developmental conditions, the city of Vancouver is in a unique position as it has lofty aspirations to become the world’s most sustainable city by 2020. As outlined in the Greenest City Action Plan, goal #6 is to make sure that residents of Vancouver have open access to nature (City of Vancouver, 2012). 250 different bird species, both migratory and residential birds, can be found in Metro Vancouver and they also provide important ecosystem services like pest control, pollination and seed dispersal (City of Vancouver, 2015). Vancouver also represents a crucial waypoint along the Pacific Flyway which sees birds using the region as a pit stop along their migration from South America (2015). Another 2015 report showed that bird species in Vancouver and along the Pacific Coast have declined by 35% since 1976 (City of Vancouver, 2015). With this in mind city officials are faced with the challenging task of balancing development projects to meet housing demands while preserving the local habitat conditions that will allow organisms to thrive so that people are able to enjoy the benefits nature provides. I concluded that this study area would be the ideal location to collect data and research this issue thanks to the local context and my familiarity with the area.
