NatureMapping Lrtf Roadkill 07

Slideshow Transcript

1. Slide 1: Iowa NatureMapping: Road Kill Monitoring Project Jason O’Brien, M.S. Iowa State University Extension Wildlife Programs
2. Slide 2: Iowa NatureMapping: Road Kill Monitoring Project Thank you to the Living Roadway Trust Fund of Iowa for completely funding this project and all the NatureMapping volunteers who contributed to this project!
3. Slide 3: What is NatureMapping? • A Citizen Science Program • Monitor wildlife species • Trained citizen volunteers • Standard set of protocols, of which the basic idea is…
4. Slide 4: Tell us what you see… Jeff LeClere Jeff LeClere
5. Slide 5: …And where you see it
6. Slide 6: NatureMapping Training Workshop • Level I: Basic wildlife ID  Map reading  Geo-referencing  Sampling methods &  Data-entry  • Mammals • Reptiles • Amphibians • Birds
7. Slide 7: Early planning stages of a road kill study… while promising, we scrapped this idea in favor of a more tested approach.
8. Slide 8: Living Roadway Trust Fund Road Kill Study • Use trained NatureMapping volunteers, using basic NatureMapping wildlife monitoring protocols, to answer a question for the Iowa Department of Transportation.
9. Slide 9: LRTF Road Kill Study • Roadside Prairie Planting Assumption:  Enhances Roadside Habitat
10. Slide 10: LRTF Road Kill Study • The Questions:  Do the roadsides provide good wildlife habitat? or  do they “siphon” off species only to have them killed on the roadway?
11. Slide 11: Methods • Preliminary Survey to test NatureMapping as a sampling method • Used pre-existing NatureMapping Protocols
12. Slide 12: Methods • Volunteers picked 1 or more roadsides they travel often (1, 2, or 5 mile segments) • Monitor as often as they can or whenever they see road kill
13. Slide 13: Methods • Roadside vegetation documented using NatureMapping Habitat Codes (i.e. Cool Season Grass –  brome, KY Bluegrass; Tallgrass prairie; Woody Fencerow; etc.) Entered as Habitat type  (up to 6 different habitats, beginning with most abundant) in data form
14. Slide 14: Methods • Adjacent habitats described in “Comments” section of data form  Riparian corridors, waterways, forest, wetlands, fencerows intersecting roadways, etc.
15. Slide 15: Results
16. Slide 16: Wildlife species most reported on Road Kill Survey
17. Slide 17: Most Common Roadside Habitats – red bars are mostly agricultural; least reported is prairie
18. Slide 18: Wildlife species most reported and the habitats in which they were found
19. Slide 19: Aerial view of some road kill study sites – note the different kinds of habitat adjacent to roadways
20. Slide 25: Conclusions • Top road kill species typical of most roads in Iowa • Roadside habitat typical of most roads • Prairie roadsides under represented!
21. Slide 26: Conclusions • Course Dataset – not fine enough to detect an effect from Roadside vegetation • However, data seems to indicate that adjacent habitat greatly impacts wildlife
22. Slide 27: Round Two: What we would do differently • Results Indicate need to fine-tune protocols
23. Slide 28: Round Two: What we would do differently • Assign Roadsides: Control for:  Prairie roadsides  Non-prairie roadsides  Length & Width  Adjacent Habitat  Type of Roadway
24. Slide 29: Round Two: What we would do differently • Control for Time of Year Set definite sampling  timeframes
25. Slide 30: Round Two: What we would do differently • Develop specific data entry forms for this project…
26. Slide 31: Round Two: What we would do differently …Integrating newest mapping technology with data submission and retrieval
27. Slide 33: Iowa NatureMapping GIS Mapping Tool Currently in test phase: • Will be making available in 2008.
28. Slide 34: Contact Jason P. O’Brien, M.S. Coordinator Iowa State University Dept. of NREM 339 Science II Ames, IA 50011-3221 515/294-6440 jpobrien@iastate.edu www.extension.iastate.edu/naturemapping