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Claim: The spread of the Eurasian collared dove has not affected native bird species.

Evidence 1
Researchers found a decline in the Mourning Dove population in 2005-2006 in Florida after the introduction of the Eurasian collared dove.

Reasoning 1
However the decline of the mourning dove population is based off of other factors such as deforestation because the decline in the population was not experienced anywhere else.

Evidence 2
Researchers found no decline in the populations of collared-doves,  rock doves, common ground doves, white-winged doves, blue jays, or northern cardinals with the introduction of the Eurasian collared dove.

Reasoning 2
This proves that the Eurasian collared dove has had a minimal effect on bird species in America since its introduction because six species were left unaffected and only one species declined after the introduction of the Eurasian collared dove.

Evidence 3
The white winged dove and Eurasian collared dove feed on the same resources such as seeds and berries and there has been no affect on the population.

Reasoning 3
Maintaining the same population when there is competition for resources proves that the Eurasian collared dove does not affect other bird species.

https://www.tntech.edu/files/wrc/pdfs/research/eco_assess/EffectsEuraCollaredDoves.pdf

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Claim: The rapid spread of the Eurasian Collared-Dove has negatively affected other populations of native bird species.

Evidence:
-Since the 1900s the Eurasian Collared Dove has expanded throughout the United States in areas that are the same as the Mourning Doves
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Reasoning:
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- Since the collared dove has an ecological niche that is similar to other members of the dove family, the collared doves use up resources by eating
- By the Collard Dove species spreading quickly this causes competition among native species in the area that the Collard Dove expanding to. Has a negative impact because it kicks native species out of their originally habitat.

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Claim: The introduction of the Eurasian collared dove to North America has not heavily influenced similar dove populations.
1. Mourning doves and Eurasian collared doves occupy similar habitats in urban and suburban areas. Although there has been steady decline of mourning dove populations over the last 40 years, it can be mostly contributed to hunting.
2. Some researchers have found that the abundance of dove species has been greater in areas with collared-doves than without collared-doves.

3. Since the 1970s, white-winged dove populations have increased 20% throughout different regions of the United States.

Reasoning:

1. You cannot contribute the decline of the mourning doves to competition with other birds because there are other human-related impacts of the loss.
2. The mourning dove population has not been affected by the invasion of Eurasian collared doves, because the collared dove is just filling a new habitat niche.
3. Since other native bird populations are increasing, this means that Eurasian collared doves are not impacting them very much, and likely not outcompeting them.

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Our Claim: The Eurasian Collared-Dove has negatively affected different populations of native bird species because they disrupt the availability of ecological resources.
Our Evidence:
1. The Eurasian Collared-Dove does not migrate which enables it to spread and colonize the areas it is introduced to at an hazardous rate to the existing species there.
2. Since the Eurasian Collared-Dove competes so aggressively to fulfil its ecological niche, it ends up taking over the native bird species’ ecological niches, relating to the competitive exclusion principle.
3. In Arkansas, it took a mere 5 five years for the Eurasian Collared-Dove to spread from the southeast corner of the state to the northwest corner.
Our Justification of the Evidence: Since the Eurasian Collared-Dove does not migrate and reproduces rapidly, and also because it takes over the native species’ ecological niches, it greatly affects different populations of native bird species.  They affect these species by altering their habitats and upsetting the balance of the ecosystem which forces the native bird species to to change their normal way of life.

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Our claim: The Eurasian Collared Dove has not negatively affected the populations of native bird species.
Evidence:
1. The Eurasian Collared-Dove is aggressive and behaviorally dominant. However, it is not any more aggressive than the Mourning Dove.
2. The Eurasian Collared Dove did not have a significant impact of the Mourning Dove population.
3. White-Winged Doves were not negatively impacted by the introductions of Eurasian Collared-Dove, and have grown in population in recent years regardless of the addition of a new competitive species.

Reasoning:
1. Mourning Doves are notorious for dominating bird feeders and not allowing other birds to feed while they are gathering food.
2. Despite the Eurasian collared-dove’s rapid population growth across the nation (particularly in Florida, where the mourning dove also exists), no research has shown that the Eurasian collared dove has either reduced or increased the population of Mourning Doves.
3. Though populations of the White-Winged Dove have declined in the past in the Southwestern United States due to habitat destruction, they have adapted well and have had a rapidly expanding population in recent years.

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Dominic, Jack, Jacob, Bailey Rose, Elisabeth

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Dominic, Jack, Jacob, Bailey Rose, Elisabeth

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Question: How has the spread of Eurasian collared-dove affected different populations of native bird species?

Claim :  The spread of the Eurasian collared-dove affected the native bird species negatively.

Evidence: The Mourning Dove population has decreased by 15% over the last 50 years which is around the time when the Eurasian Collared Dove was introduced into the US. This suggests that these two types of dove possibly occupied the same habitats or competed for resources, causing the collared-dove to dominate these regions. The Eurasian Collared dove and The Mourning Dove both feed on seeds and grains. They both stay in the US year round. The White-Winged Dove and the Eurasian-collared dove both feed on seeds and grains such as milo, sunflower, wheat, and corn.

Reasoning: It is affiliated with interspecific competition between species. Gause’s principle of competitive exclusion states that “no two species can occupy the same niche at the same time.” The species that is less fit, in this case it is the Mourning Dove, will die out because it cannot relocate. The Mourning Dove’s population decrease of 15% around the introduction of the Eurasian Collared Dove shows that the Eurasian Collared Dove has a similar niche and caused the population of native species to drop. The fact that Eurasian Collared Doves occupy the same niche as native species is further proved by them having an extremely similar diet to both the Mourning Dove and the White-Winged Dove.

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Claim: The rapid spread of the Eurasian Collared-Dove has negatively affected native bird species such as Mourning Doves.

Evidence:

-Since the 1900s the Eurasian Collared Dove has expanded throughout the United States in areas that are the same as the Mourning Doves

- Both the Mourning Dove and the Eurasian Collard Dove breed during Summer.

- Both the Mourning Dove and the Eurasian Collared Dove eat millet and other seeds from the ground or from bird feeders.

Reasoning:

- Since the Eurasian Collard Dove and the Mourning Dove occupy the same habitats, competition among these species occurs because they are both in the same area using the same resources and their habitats in the United States will not be able to sustain the amount of resources required for both forever. The Mourning Doves are negatively affected because they have a much harder time getting the resources they need in order to survive now that the Eurasian Collared Doves have joined them.

- When these doves breed they require a lot more food. The habitats of these doves cannot provide food for both of the species at the same time during Summer forever. If the Eurasian Collared Doves did not join the habitats of the Mourning Doves, the environment would be able to sustain them during breeding season.

- Since both species eat millet (a type of seed) there is added competition with food resources. They mostly get these seeds from the ground of feeders which can be harder to find, as not everyone has bird feeder. If there are not enough seeds for the birds, they will starve so the Eurasian Collard Doves add a major difficulty to the Mourning Doves survival.