Environmental Variables That Affect Wildlife Movement at Turnbull Laboratory for Ecological Studies
Faculty Mentor
Charlotte R. Milling
Presentation Type
Poster
Start Date
5-8-2024 9:00 AM
End Date
5-8-2024 10:45 AM
Location
PUB NCR
Primary Discipline of Presentation
Biology
Abstract
Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge (TNWR) is a 23,000-acre site established by the US Fish and Wildlife Serve to provide sanctuary for migratory birds and wildlife against habitat loss and degradation. Human activity in the Spokane Metropolitan Area might influence wildlife activity, and understanding how wildlife respond to environmental variables can inform management of refuges near major urban centers. Our objective was to evaluate environmental factors that influence wildlife visitation rates using game cameras at the Turnbull Laboratory for Ecological Studies (TLES) on the north side of TNWR. We measured percent canopy cover and percent vegetation ground cover at ten sites, which we assessed for a correlative relationship with visitation rate. We also recorded time of day and temperature for each independent animal detection, and we compared number of detections among biologically relevant times of day (dawn, day, dusk, and night) and temperature bins (above and below freezing) using a t-test. The results indicated no significant effect of time of day (p = 0.37) or temperature (p = 0.88) on the number of animal visitations at each site. We did, however detect a significant negative correlation between both the proportion of canopy cover (p = 0.009) and the proportion of vegetation cover (p = 0.008) on visitation rate. Our results suggest that habitat features affect wildlife activity levels, with greater activity occurring where habitat structure is sparse. This can help managers anticipate animal movement in relation to gradients of human use on Turnbull and in the surrounding landscape and manage habitat accordingly.
Recommended Citation
Kristensen, Tosha A.; Tibbetts, Ryan; Torres, Alejandro; and Johnson, Ashley, "Environmental Variables That Affect Wildlife Movement at Turnbull Laboratory for Ecological Studies" (2024). 2024 Symposium. 7.
https://dc.ewu.edu/srcw_2024/ps_2024/p1_2024/7
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Environmental Variables That Affect Wildlife Movement at Turnbull Laboratory for Ecological Studies
PUB NCR
Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge (TNWR) is a 23,000-acre site established by the US Fish and Wildlife Serve to provide sanctuary for migratory birds and wildlife against habitat loss and degradation. Human activity in the Spokane Metropolitan Area might influence wildlife activity, and understanding how wildlife respond to environmental variables can inform management of refuges near major urban centers. Our objective was to evaluate environmental factors that influence wildlife visitation rates using game cameras at the Turnbull Laboratory for Ecological Studies (TLES) on the north side of TNWR. We measured percent canopy cover and percent vegetation ground cover at ten sites, which we assessed for a correlative relationship with visitation rate. We also recorded time of day and temperature for each independent animal detection, and we compared number of detections among biologically relevant times of day (dawn, day, dusk, and night) and temperature bins (above and below freezing) using a t-test. The results indicated no significant effect of time of day (p = 0.37) or temperature (p = 0.88) on the number of animal visitations at each site. We did, however detect a significant negative correlation between both the proportion of canopy cover (p = 0.009) and the proportion of vegetation cover (p = 0.008) on visitation rate. Our results suggest that habitat features affect wildlife activity levels, with greater activity occurring where habitat structure is sparse. This can help managers anticipate animal movement in relation to gradients of human use on Turnbull and in the surrounding landscape and manage habitat accordingly.
