Just the Facts, Ma'am.....

What We Did Today:
1. Collected all 100 traps from the woods.
This morning we went through the lines and checked for any captures. Team C was 0 for 20 today (that's me). No luck today. Several other groups did have some voles. Then we went back and collected all 20 of our traps, emptied them out of hay and feed, and stacked them in our crates. On Monday, we'll survey another site several miles away in order to compare data.

2. Counted hare poo.
We collected 3 bags of "CoCo Puffs" hare droppings. Our next job was counting all those droppings! After counting over 4,000 hare droppings/pellets, it was unanimously decided that we should invent a counter - like the coin sorter at the bank! We have 10 of us to count, but was still quite the task! (Another idea: this might be a new alternative to lunch detention.....) We averaged 1604 pellets per 10meter x 10meter quandrat. This was more than last year, which was ~1200 pellets. Unlike deer which leave a certain pile a day, rabbits & hares don't do this. We can only compare data from year to year to see a fluctuation, not an actual number.

3. Calculated Mice/Voles/Chipmunks.
We used Mark & Recapture Method for our small mammal population. We then used a second, more accurate method called the Jolly Seber Method. A slightly different equation, it's a bit longer and therefore more accurate.

# New Last Day + # Recapture Last Day
____________________________ X Total # Marked
# Recapture on Last Day


This method allows you to take into consideration that you're having more than one event. We didn't just have a first and second catch, we had a third catch, fourth catch, etc.....
Do the Math: How many is our population estimate?

Mice: #New Last Day= 2
# Recapture Last Day= 1
Total # Marked=2

Vole: #New Last Day=1
# Recapture Last Day=1
Total # Marked= 5



What We'll Do Tomorrow:
1. A day without small mammal research! A visit to the big town of Halifax (about hour and a half drive away). It has about 350,000 people and several museums. Looking forward to a huge plate of fresh seafood!



For YOU.......
1. Our hare dropping plots were 10 meters x 10 meters. What is the size of this box in feet?

2. What is the reason for the Jolly Seber Method being more accurate than Mark & Recapture (when we're taking data for more than 2 times)?

3. What is our estimated population of voles and mice in this area, using the Jolly Seber Method?

**No pictures or video will post on the website today. Blogger.com is having trouble with the pictures/video. In the next day or so, I'll hopefully be able to upload some more visuals for you!

Thursday's Picks:
1. What's the difference between a rabbit and a hare?
Hare have longer ears, legs, body size, and an elongated face in comparison to a rabbit.

Copy this link for a picture comparison:
http://www.huntwatch.info/images/rabbit2.gif

2. What type of snake is this? (Google it!)
No good answer yet for this one! There are 5 native snakes to Nova Scotia, and it doesn't seem to be any of them. I'll keep you posted on this one!

3.What is the Nova Scotia Provincial Flower? The Mayflower (no joke)

Copy this link for a picture of it:
http://www.theflowerexpert.com/media/images/aboutflowers/stateflowers/massachusettsstateflowers/massachusetts-state-flower-image-white-mayflower.jpg

See you soon!
KVWH