Animal movement through Southwestern's EcoLab

• In Event: Poster Presentation and Judging for: Anthropology; Botany; Conservation Ecology; Environmental Science; Freshwater Science; Geosciences; Mathematics & Computer Science; Neuroscience; Physics & Eng; Science Education; Terrestrial Ecology & Management.
  In Poster Session: Environmental Science Poster Session

Abstract

Southwestern University has eight motion triggered cameras have been constantly snapping shots of animals throughout the twenty-five acres for almost two full years now, capturing pictures of a variety of different animals throughout each day. This data shows what times of the day and night what animals are active and what they are doing. This also shows what months of the year different animals are more active, and what different animals start to appear in the lab. Up to this point the cameras have found twenty-three different species all spending various times in the EcoLab. Many different species have only been caught on camera one or two times, while many species such as deer and raccoons are photographed multiple times a week. The data I will be collecting and analyzing will come from solely from our GameCams out in EcoLab. The pictures we have give me a good range of time to study the animal movement patterns. Since the installation of the cameras all of the pictures have been sorted into folders titled with the location they were placed in the lab, with this I will easily be able to look at what parts of EcoLab are frequented by what animals.

Author

• Zane McDurham, Southwestern University