Computers in Wildlife Research & Conservation

1. Computers in Wildlife Research & Conservation By: Ashley Sloan April 23, 2008

2. Before the use of Computers in the wildlife field • Observations were handwritten • Calculations done manually • Lead to larger percentages of human error • Less accuracy • Didn’t have ability to monitor wildlife movements At all times

3. Solution to the problem of human error?? • Researchers & Biologist use computers and computer programs for solutions regarding conservation strategies for threatened and endangered wildlife

4. Threats to wildlife &endangered species • Main threat: Habitat loss, fragmentation, and degradation due to human development • Use computer programs to come up with strategies to save land • For ex: How much land does the endangered Florida panther require???

5. Solution =Computers • Use telemetry data & Gps data -telemetry- is the transfer of information through radio waves -gives where, how long, how far the panther traveled -computer receives, monitors, & gathers data -Global Positioning System satellites transmit signals to equipment & computers on the ground

6. Global Positioning System Telemetry Data ( transmitters to computer) (use satellites)

7. It was found through the use of computer programs and data collected and monitored by the computers that…. • Males disperse longer distances, but their movements were circular and were less than those exhibited by other cougar populations • Human landscape features limit colonization and forces dispersing panthers to remain nearby or return toward their natal ranges • Females were philopatric • Without this information, Wildlife conservationist would not know where to start in order to save this endangered species

8. Wildlife Research, Conservation Strategies & Computers • used digital land cover data & maps on computers -categorized the maps into 7 general habitat types • Used: <1 as habitat types with distance ratios that were significantly selected & >1 were habitats avoided

9. Florida Panther Research • Researches used Euclidean distance-based analysis -a computer program which estimated the distance of animal locations to habitats in order to figure out what type of habitat panthers preferred

10. Land cover maps Land cover maps are created & visualized on a computer. They help visualize a large area. In wildlife research, they make land cover maps for each habitat that the animal uses.

11. Conservation Computer Programs -The Panther Model • Spatially explicit model (SEM) • Estimates the actual & potential influence human factors have on wildlife occupying a landscape • Geographic Information System • Represents landscape as landscape images • Also includes: roads, deer density, human density, & public conservation landscape images • 30 X 30 m pixel grid

12. Conservation Computer Programs The Panther Model • Model inputs a small population of 7 virtual panthers • Panthers placed in different areas of the study area- “North Florida” • Panther: looks, chooses, & moves to the desired cell • Movement history & coordinates for each panther is stored . All panther locations are tallied for each pixel of landscape & a GIS map is created to show overall population usage • It’s like a video game……… • Also used for other endangered animals for ex: African cheetah,

13. “Tags” • Tags are designed and manufactured by Wildlife Computers ***available for wildlife and ecological research. • *** offer different tag types for recording the behavior and distribution of marine animals. • Animal is tagged and research information shown and analyzed on computer • There are specialized shapes to suit various species

14. Overall Computers aid in…….. • Monitoring local movement of endangered or threatened species • Creating land cover maps • Monitoring long distance dispersal between genders -Immigration *To more accurately predict the effects of human factors on the endangered or threatened species *To indicate home range size, amount of road crossings, road mortality, land cover selection

15. Overall Computers aid in…….. • Wildlife management & conservation is a large and important science. Information from research is greatly needed to make accurate decisions regarding species conservation. • Computers allow researchers to learn more and apply what is best in order to save endangered and threatened species

16. Literature Cited • Eltek. 2007. Eltek Specialist data loggers. http://www.eltekdataloggers.co.uk/telemetry. shtml.Accessed 18 April 2008. • Smithsonian. 1998. How does GPS work? http://www.nasm.si.edu/exhibitions/gps/work.html. Accessed 20 April 2008. • Cox, J., Maehr, D., and J. Larkin 2006. Florida Panther Habitat Use: New Approach to an Old Problem. J Wildl Manag 70: 1778-1785. • Cramer, P. and K.M. Portier. 2001. Modeling Florida Panther Movements in Response to Human Attributes of the Landscape and Ecological Settings. Ecol Model 40: 51-80. • Maeh, D., Land, E., Shindle, D., Bass, O., and T. Hector. 2002. Florida Panther Dispersal and Conservation. Bioi Conservat 106: 187-197. • Giles, Robert. 2005. Management knowledge through wildlife research: A perspective. Spring NY: 185-191. • Wildlife computers. 2008. Featured Announcement - New generation Wildlife Computers variable power transmitter certified. Accesed 22 April 2008.