Speakers: Justin Kestler, Kestler Wildlife; Liv Callo, Escarpment Biosphere Conservancy; Brittney Vezina, Ontario Nature; Toby Rowland, The Couchiching Conservancy.
Wildlife monitoring with autonomous recording units (ARUs) in EBC Nature Reserves. Autonomous recording units (ARUs) are quickly becoming an important tool and component of wildlife monitoring.
Understanding their importance and how they function as a way to collect and interpret data in the field is key for avian monitoring – especially for species at risk in remote locations. Justin Kestler and Liv Callo discuss this area in depth and share their findings from the monitoring work in 2020 and 2021. Learning Outcomes: Exploring the advantages, limitations and possibilities of autonomous recording units in a wildlife monitoring application with an emphasis on targeting species at risk. Monitoring snakes using Ontario Nature’s Long-term Monitoring Protocol More than 50% of Ontario’s 15 snake species are provincially at risk, however, a lack of information about population trends makes it difficult to effectively assess their conservation status. In 2018, Ontario Nature developed a Long-term Monitoring Protocol (LTMP) to help gather baseline information and fill knowledge gaps about Ontario’s snake populations. During this session, Ontario Nature’s Conservation Projects Coordinator, Brittney Vezina, will discuss the methodology behind Ontario Nature’s LTMP, how it can be applied to help conserve snakes, and how individuals and organizations can get involved. Learning Outcomes Participants will learn how to use artificial cover board transects to collect data on snake abundance using Ontario Nature’s LTMP. Specifically, participants will learn why cover boards are important, how to select a monitoring site and set up a transect, when and how to monitor cover boards, what data is collected, and how data can be applied to benefit the conservation of snakes and their habitat. The secret lives of animals There are certain species that are hard to monitor in the field. They can be elusive, active at night, or very wide ranging. Generally, we rely on tracks, scat, or rare sightings to confirm their presence or absence at a site. For the most part these are mammals such as fisher, flying squirrels, and moose. For these species we have turned to trail cams, which have allowed us to get a glimpse into the lives of these animals when we are not around, and provide concrete evidence of their presence on the nature reserves.