Service learning. Wildlife monitoring in Mukilteo.

Service learning.

Wildlife monitoring in Mukilteo.

By Asmah Tadmori.

I participated in Wildlife monitoring on Friday, February 17th which was located in Mukilteo that was sponsored by Service learning of EDCC. In order to balance human and wildlife demands, this service learning was focused on tracking and photographing animals in Japanese and Big Gulch. Taking this opportunity helps people to assemble data and manage it by remote cameras that would assist us to preserve wildlife and other natural resources. Capturing wild animals is important because it helps us to detect new species and to estimate the population size of that species and their richness in this particular are that we've examined. This project also aids us in research of utilizing the wildlife environment and the occupation of human built constructions.

In this event, we were supposed to look at pictures of animals using cameras, unfortunately, we couldn’t look at pictures that has been taken before because the event organiser forgot the keys that unlock the metal boxes of those cameras. These cameras have motion sensors that take one picture each time an animal pass through, and it takes about ten photos then it stop shooting. Although we didn’t have the chance to look at camera's photos, we still saw where cameras are located, and how to use them in order to detect unfamiliar species and their richness in that particular area. There were two cameras that have been set two weeks ago before we went to our volunteer event. One is used for monitoring woodpecker and the other one used for taking pictures of small species that swim in the small river. The other task that we’ve done as a volunteering group is tracking footprint of species, determine which kind of species and how to distinct it from other species footprints. We also did a small hike in order to show us the different types of plants and trees and the ecosystem of this forest. The ecosystem of this forest that encompass plants, animals, fungi and bacteria and how this forest takes various forms depending on different temperature, rainfall, and confined soil. Moreover, we used a GPS that help other people come and locate the place of cameras. Additionally to spraying a scent marking that helps us to bring animals to a particular place close to cameras and makes it easier to take pictures of them. This spray scent marking makes animals think that they have folks in this particular area by smelling this scent which is usually a urine of one of their folks.

A Nice picture of Big Gulch Trail:

A Nice Picture of The Big Gulch Trail Forest. 

A picture of Coyote FootPrint that we've Found in Big Gulch Trail. 

 A photo of the small hike that we've done. 

A picture of Woodpeckers holes that we assumed they did them.   

Wildlife monitoring in Mukilteo that supervised by Grace Coale. I volunteered for three hours from nine pm to twelve am on Friday, February 17th. Grace’s phone number is 425-640-1882 and her email address “ grace.coale@email.edcc.edu”.
 Besides, My duties were finding out all the footprint of some species, and detect which species they are and why. And how they differ from other species. Also spraying a scent marking (urine, feces) in order to let the camera sense the presence of the animal by its motor sensors and take pictures of it. We also did a small hike in order to check the location of the cameras and use GPS that help other people easily find the place of cameras. 

This volunteer experience has helped me recognize the importance of monitoring wildlife and tracking footprints of species. This project also assists researchers in quantifying the number of different species in this particular area, and how to enhance their habitat in order to increase the number of particular species.  Identifying new species really show us that an evolutionary mechanism has occurred such as mutations. Thus, we can place this new species to which phylum it belongs to, and construct a phylogenetic tree that shows the evolutionary relationship between it and other species. I also learned that camera trails are used for studying animal’s activity and behaviors which also remind me of how the particular animal has a specific behavior in order to eat and mate. Another thing that I’ve learned about is tracking signs. We can identify a footprint track by looking at the track overall size, the number of toes, and the depth of the track. For instance, we were able to identify a coyote track that has an overall size bigger than a domestic dog, and the coyote has more negative space between his toes comparing to the domestic dog. Overall, this project helps researchers and scientists to monitor all different kinds of species, to know about their movement pattern, behaviors, and how to improve a suitable habitat in order to let these species develop and grow gradually without getting extinct.

Questions:

•     Do you think this particular forest provide all its species with an appropriate environment in order to let them grow and develop normally? And how can you know if it’s an appropriate forest for particular species or not?
•    Do you assume that interior wood has a stabilizing microclimate?  
•       How can we identify which one of the evolutionary mechanisms has occurred in this forest? And as we know forest has many different types of species and all belong to different phyla?  What is the best way to test it?
•       As we know monitoring animals accommodate us with fundamental data on habitat utilization? How can we utilize this habitat in the best proper and effective way?