Avian Studies at Georgia Gwinnett College, located in a Suburb of Atlanta, Georgia.

The Georgia Gwinnett College (GGC) Bird Lab has been conducting avian research in Lawrenceville, Gwinnett County, a suburb of Atlanta, GA, since 2017. The GGC Bird Lab arose from an upper-level course, called Experimental Methods. The GGC Bird Lab faculty also provide one-on-one guidance with students to conduct individual research in a course, called STEC. Experimental Methods is a research-embedded course and a capstone for seniors that ensures they are comfortable with applying all of the steps of the scientific method by conducting an experiment. Led by the faculty of the GGC Bird Lab, the Experimental Methods course, allows students to conduct research by stepping into an established, long-term monitoring study of avian diversity in Gwinnett County, GA. The overarching goal of the project is to determine whether this loss of habitat affects bird biodiversity. Urbanization is rapidly increasing in Gwinnett County, making areas around GGC campus the perfect study sites. Many previous studies have shown a strong negative correlation between urbanization and biodiversity. Interestingly, our data at this point indicate that the effect of urbanization on overall species biodiversity varies, but does negatively affect genetic diversity. This year, with the acquisition of new audio recording equipment, research goals for the lab will expand to include the effects of anthropogenic noise on bird song. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]