Field School
  • Home
  • About us
    • Our Mission
    • Faculty & Staff
    • Our Research Vessel
    • Ongoing Research
    • Publications
    • Internship program
    • Our Non-profit Arm
    • Field School Fellowship
  • Find A Course
    • Intro to Shark Research Skills
    • Intro to Tropical Marine Research
    • Bahamas Sperm Whale Research
    • R @ Sea: Learn to Code
    • Ocean Science Communication with @WhySharksMatter
    • Scholarship Opportunities
  • What Courses Are Like
  • Charter us
    • Universities and faculty
    • Non-profits and other organizations
    • Corporate
    • Research and Film
  • Contact Us
  • Blog

How do we count rare wildlife? 

2/10/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
Photo credit: US FWS/Joe Milmoe
A recent study suggests that one of the most popular ways that scientists estimate populations of rare, threatened or endangered wildlife can be inaccurate, which is bad news for managers, conservationists, and wildlife.

Field science can be expensive, time consuming, and require a lot of man (and woman!) power. So instead of trying to count every individual sloth, or tiger, or salamander, scientists often rely on something called index-calibration. This process involves counting a target species as accurately as possible in a small area, using expensive and intense techniques like motion-activated camera traps. This accurate count is then correlated to simpler, less expensive methods like counting tracks. The rougher estimate from the area that has been measured as accurately as possible is used to “calibrate” the counts in other areas based solely on less expensive (and less accurate) measures.

It’s easy to think that good field science will always yield good results, but the ways that data are interpreted and analyzed can be just as important. Statistical ecologists found that when there was even 10 percent uncertainty about the detection rates of wildlife in the more accurate measure, index-calibration loses the ability to accurately predict wildlife numbers. This technique was used recently in a study which found a thirty percent increase in tiger numbers in India in just eight years (which was great news, but pretty surprising!). When the mathematicians experimented with the field data themselves, they found that even small inaccuracies in detection rates could lead to dramatically different results from the model. While it’s sometimes true that field scientists and the mathematically-inclined scientists who build and test these models don’t fully appreciate each other’s contributions, this finding is an important reminder that good science doesn’t end in the field—good field notes, data, and sample labeling is only the beginning of a long and complex scientific process! 

If you're curious (and mathematically inclined yourself!) the paper reference is:
 Gopalaswamy AM, Delampady, KM, Ullas Karanth, N, Kumar S,  Macdonald, DW. An examination of index-calibration experiments: counting tigers at macroecological scales. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 2015; DOI: 10.1111/2041-210X.12351.

0 Comments

    Field Notes

    ​

    Archives

    July 2021
    April 2020
    September 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    August 2014
    June 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Site links
Home
About us
​Our Staff
Our Research Vessel
Ongoing Research
Field School Foundation
Contact us
Blog
Jobs and Internships
​

Expeditions
Week-long Courses​
  • Intro to Shark Research Skills
  • Intro to Tropical Marine Fieldwork
  • Sperm Whale Research Expedition Bahamas
Day/weekend Courses
  • R @ Sea: Immersive Workshop in R for Ecological Modeling
What our courses are like
Charter us
Partner with us! We are always looking for new schools, scientists, and non-profit organizations to partner with.  Please contact us here to start a conversation.

Hear from us! Sign up for our newsletter to hear about what is happening at Field School as well as upcoming offers and specials.
  • Home
  • About us
    • Our Mission
    • Faculty & Staff
    • Our Research Vessel
    • Ongoing Research
    • Publications
    • Internship program
    • Our Non-profit Arm
    • Field School Fellowship
  • Find A Course
    • Intro to Shark Research Skills
    • Intro to Tropical Marine Research
    • Bahamas Sperm Whale Research
    • R @ Sea: Learn to Code
    • Ocean Science Communication with @WhySharksMatter
    • Scholarship Opportunities
  • What Courses Are Like
  • Charter us
    • Universities and faculty
    • Non-profits and other organizations
    • Corporate
    • Research and Film
  • Contact Us
  • Blog