WHAT AND WHY DO WE CONDUCT TROPICAL ECOLOGY RESEARCH?
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Our eyes and ears in the rainforest are trail cameras. We use these cameras to obtain location, date, and time data of all terrestrial wildlife species in the tropical rainforest. We deploy the cameras on a network of trails in different national parks, ecosystems, and throughout high and low elevations in Costa Rica. We gather information on species that inhabit the Costa Rican tropical ecosystems through deploying trail cameras in a variety of settings including: different disturbance levels of forests, topographies, road systems, and proximity to agricultural development and human populated areas. Once the trail camera data has been collected and uploaded, our analysts get underway analyzing all of the wildlife that were recorded into Excel spreadsheets. This takes many hours and sometimes weeks of analysis. After all the data has been analyzed, we then tally and total the wildlife we recorded, create spreadsheets, and review any data changes in order to create scientific reports, and our outreach and conservation education materials. The information we collect is important not only to wildlife conservationists, but also to the Costa Rican government, NGO's, and community development organizations. This provides a better understanding of the health of their ecosystems, which is also a direct barometer to the natural systems that support and sustain human communities. |
Where are our research sites?
Yellow= Current monitoring sites
Magenta= Past monitoring sites
HOW do THE Trail camera & Scent stations FUNCTION?
Below is a Bushnell trail camera attached to a tree along a rainforest trail with a project fabricated "roof" for protection from the heavy tropical rain. We place the cameras in steel trail camera boxes and cable locks in order to keep them safe from weather, wildlife, and theft. We use Bushnell, Reconyx, and other brands of trail cameras that will both capture photos and videos of the wildlife that are using the trail systems.
The scent lures are comprised of scratch pads with a velcro strap that attaches to the tree, rubber tubing, and sponges scented with the perfume Calvin Klein's Obsession for Her. Fragrance companies will not disclose their formulas however, research in zoos has shown that a chemical called Civetone is found in the perfume which attracts wildlife. Civetone is the smelly component to civet oil, which is a pheromone that comes from the African Civet (a sub-Saharan cat) . The civet oil used to be extracted from the African Civets, however now can be synthesized from palm oil. We have learned that most of the terrestrial wildlife species are drawn to the scent lures which allows us to more effectively document the presence and distribution of many species. While this could provide a biased density estimate of wildlife species in the rainforest, our focus is on species diversity, distribution, and occupancy estimates. Our greatest concern is conservation and management of tropical wildlife and helping establish the bridge between wildlife conservation and local community sustainability.
The scent lures are comprised of scratch pads with a velcro strap that attaches to the tree, rubber tubing, and sponges scented with the perfume Calvin Klein's Obsession for Her. Fragrance companies will not disclose their formulas however, research in zoos has shown that a chemical called Civetone is found in the perfume which attracts wildlife. Civetone is the smelly component to civet oil, which is a pheromone that comes from the African Civet (a sub-Saharan cat) . The civet oil used to be extracted from the African Civets, however now can be synthesized from palm oil. We have learned that most of the terrestrial wildlife species are drawn to the scent lures which allows us to more effectively document the presence and distribution of many species. While this could provide a biased density estimate of wildlife species in the rainforest, our focus is on species diversity, distribution, and occupancy estimates. Our greatest concern is conservation and management of tropical wildlife and helping establish the bridge between wildlife conservation and local community sustainability.
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To the field we go...
How do we Evaluate the Trail Camera DATA and What do we Learn?
1. Trail cameras record photos and short videos of wildlife due to infrared motion-detection settings on cameras.
2. Scent lures attract wildlife who are naturally drawn to scents of prey species or other olfactory attractions.
3. The trail cameras are equipped with SD cards that record 1000's of photos and videos of the presence of wildlife species for identification. The cameras operate from eight AA lithium batteries.
4. Every 1-4 months, we replace the full SD data cards and batteries with fresh ones. Then we take the full data cards to the lab and download them to our computers.
5. The wildlife photos and video data from the SD cards are analyzed manually for species identification, and/or are analyzed with specific wildlife recognition software.
6. Once we compile and analyze the data, we organize it into frequency distribution charts per species, trail locations, geographical localities, activity patterns, seasonal fluctuations, rainforests types and more.
7. Finally, we present the data and compiled results at scientific conferences (see below) and in local community forums.
2. Scent lures attract wildlife who are naturally drawn to scents of prey species or other olfactory attractions.
3. The trail cameras are equipped with SD cards that record 1000's of photos and videos of the presence of wildlife species for identification. The cameras operate from eight AA lithium batteries.
4. Every 1-4 months, we replace the full SD data cards and batteries with fresh ones. Then we take the full data cards to the lab and download them to our computers.
5. The wildlife photos and video data from the SD cards are analyzed manually for species identification, and/or are analyzed with specific wildlife recognition software.
6. Once we compile and analyze the data, we organize it into frequency distribution charts per species, trail locations, geographical localities, activity patterns, seasonal fluctuations, rainforests types and more.
7. Finally, we present the data and compiled results at scientific conferences (see below) and in local community forums.
Conferences and poster presentations
 Our poster was presented at The Wildlife Society's Virtual Conference in November of 2021.
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Our 2021 poster for publication is titled: Relative Abundance of Felines and Other Terrestrial Wildlife Species in Three Costa Rican Rainforests. |
Our talk and poster in the 2018 International Society for Conservation Biology Conference in Trinidad and Tobago, and the Idaho Chapter of the Wildlife Society "The Future of the Wildlife Profession" conference.
Our 2018 presentation and subsequent poster for publication is titled: Use of Camera Trap Monitoring to Detect Abundance and Distribution of Jaguar and other Forest Carnivores/Prey Species in Costa Rican Neotropical Rain Forests
Our poster participated in the 2015 Idaho Academy of Sciences and Engineering conference in Boise, ID.
Our 2015 poster for publication is titled: Camera Trap Monitoring to Detect Abundance and Distribution of Terrestrial Wildlife in Costa Rican Neotropical Rain Forests