Research & Citizen Science

Lake Erie Islands Nature & Wildlife Center > Research & Citizen Science

The overall objectives of the Community Science Activities are:

  1. Involve Island residents and visitors in the cataloguing of Island
  2. Develop educational content for Groups, Nature Camp, Education Committee, and Nature Center exhibits.
  3. Provide a center for science learning for Island residents and
  4. Have community members develop their own proactive conservation ethic in anticipation of any external impacts such as climate change and habitat loss.

 

 

Current Projects:

Middle Bass Island Camera Trap “Island Critter Cam”

  • Cameras installed May 2022
    • 4,255 subject sets (12,765 images) were captured from May-November 2022
    • Zooniverse crowdsourcing image classification application launched January 17, 2023
    • 79,000 image classifications made by the general public in less than 24hrs
    • 40% of classification had unanimous animal
    • 26 likely detections of LEWS activity
      • LEWS activity near hibernacula during daylight in October
    • Other animals captured: Eastern Fox Snake, Eastern Gartersnake, White-footed mouse, Fox Squirrel, numerous bird species.
    • Results presented at OHPARC annual meeting in
    • Images of snakes uploaded to Ohio Herp Atlas
  • 2023 Plan:
    • Parks and Watercraft collection permit valid through November 2023
    • OHPARC has agreed to lend cameras for additional year
    • Installation at same location to replicate LEWS activity
    • Installation occurred Friday May 19
  • Community Science impact
    • Image analysis provided by public

 

Insect Sampling – Phenology of North American Insects

  • Collaboration with over 50 state, federal, educational, and non-governmental

organizations to record insect activity in response to temperature and land use changes.

  • Lead investigator Peter Dunn at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee with main focus on insect prey for breeding Tree Swallows.
  • Spoke with Paula Zeibarth – sampling will take place at Scheeff East Point near Tree Swallow and Purple Martin nest grid
  • Project has a strict sampling timeframe:
    • May 17, June 6, June 18; 72hrs each
    • We are free to sampling additional times at will
  • Insects captured will be preserved and will need to be sorted
    • All insects for the specific project dates need to be shipped to Milwaukee
  • Community Science Impact
    • Plan on bug picking workshops/days
    • Plan on additional sampling to create our own collection for LEINWC

 

Bat Monitoring

  • Had meeting last fall with Purdue researchers and North American Bat Monitoring Program coordinators.
  • Contacted ODW Bat Biologist Eileen Wyza about bat monitoring on the islands
  • ODW is loaning us 5 Song Meters for at least one week in
  • Sampling protocol was developed to follow the NA Bat monitoring program (nabatmonitoring.org)
    • Three monitoring stations on SBI, 1 each on MBI and NBI
    • Monitored for 4 nights
    • Locations on each Island TBD
  • Eileen will run raw files through acoustic software and provide us with species
  • Data will be provided to NA Bat program
  • No hard option for community science….yet

 

OSU REU student

  • Juan Flores, upcoming Senior at Notre Dame
  • Arrives June 5
  • Will be installing bat detectors and analyzing call data
  • Will be analyzing mammal images from MBI camera data
  • Will be sight observing White-tailed Deer on SBI
  • Community Science & Outreach Impact
    • Will develop an iNaturalist Bass Island Mammal Observation Project
    • Will produce at least one blog posting and one Facebook post on mammal observation activities on the Islands
    • Maybe – Story in Gazette
    • Maybe – Online photo submission app via Google Sheets

 

Potential Projects:

 

South Bass Island Mammal Camera Trapping

  • Goal: to establish a network of camera traps on SBI to estimate species diversity, population structure, distribution, and habitat occupancy of mammals
  • Target species: White-tailed Deer, Red Fox, Northern Raccoon, Eastern Gray Squirrels (including melanistic)
  • Camera trapping protocols in wildlife ecology call for at least 1 camera along a 1km transect of a specific habitat.
    • Goal is 20 cameras
    • 2 each in 5 preserves
    • 1 each on 10 private properties
    • Selection of sites will be chosen on probabilistic sampling design (likely stratified by habitat type, land use, or proximity to shore)
    • Winter ice coverage – reposition cameras to ice routes (ie near Buckeye Island)
  • Budget
    • Spypoint cameras $100 each ($2,000)
    • SD Cards $7.73 each ($154.60)
    • Rechargeable Battery Set $22.36 each ($447.20)
    • Needed: $2601.80
    • Initiated Crowdsource Funding Proposal on com
      • An all or nothing funding source
      • If project fund goal is reached, we receive funds and pay a small processing fee (~$300). If not, we receive nothing and pay
    • Community Science Impact
      • Cameras on private property
      • Image analysis completed by the
      • Can assign species to different working ‘groups’ that will compile data.
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