Oral Presentations: UC 327
Can GPS Clusters Predict Calving of Moose in Northeastern Washington?
Presentation Type
Presentation
Faculty Mentor’s Full Name
Erick Greene
Abstract / Artist's Statement
Moose (Alces alces) populations are declining in many parts of their range, but the causes of these declines are not known. It has been suggested that low birth rates may be one reason for these declines. Estimating birthrates for wild populations, however, is often difficult and expensive. As new technologies are incorporated into wildlife research, novel approaches to estimating birth rates are waiting to be discovered. One specific way new technologies are being used in wildlife research is through the use of radio collars that save and transmit location information through satellites. For example, researchers studying wolves have used this location information to identify kill sites by patterns of restricted movement. Until now it has been very hard to determine birth rates for moose populations. The goal of my project is to test whether we can use GPS location information to identify when and where moose cows give birth. I will use data gathered by the Washington Moose Demography Project. This data was collected from 67 collared cow moose in the early summer of 2014 and 2015. This novel method I am developing may be an effective and low-cost tool for estimating moose birth rates.
Category
Life Sciences
Can GPS Clusters Predict Calving of Moose in Northeastern Washington?
Moose (Alces alces) populations are declining in many parts of their range, but the causes of these declines are not known. It has been suggested that low birth rates may be one reason for these declines. Estimating birthrates for wild populations, however, is often difficult and expensive. As new technologies are incorporated into wildlife research, novel approaches to estimating birth rates are waiting to be discovered. One specific way new technologies are being used in wildlife research is through the use of radio collars that save and transmit location information through satellites. For example, researchers studying wolves have used this location information to identify kill sites by patterns of restricted movement. Until now it has been very hard to determine birth rates for moose populations. The goal of my project is to test whether we can use GPS location information to identify when and where moose cows give birth. I will use data gathered by the Washington Moose Demography Project. This data was collected from 67 collared cow moose in the early summer of 2014 and 2015. This novel method I am developing may be an effective and low-cost tool for estimating moose birth rates.