Summer and Fall Research '09

This past summer I was lucky enough to get involved with a predator-prey study in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The study's focus on white tailed deer fawn survival and winter servarity provides an in depth look at the effects of the local predator suite (black bears, bobcat, wolves, and coyotes).

The people I work with are all very enthusiastic about wildlife research and I am very excited to have the opportunity to continue my education toward a M.S. on this project.

My research will be focusing on population estimation techniques for gray wolves and coyotes, I hope to improve sampling and estimate techniques for these species. This summer I set up a protocol for howl surveys and ran my first two samples this fall. This winter we will begin track surveys, if it ever snows, for estimates of wolf, coyote, and bobcat abundance.

Although my focus is on coyote and wolf research; catching fawns, black bear, bobcat, and building telemetry trucks doesn't make for a half bad day either.

- Tyler