Wednesday, February 26

This week we spent a little time going over the field guides that you all made, and then we went out to check the coverboards. Because you guys did such a good job doing the field guides and presenting, we only had time to get through 10 of the boards, but you will be checking them while I am on break and any other week that either I can't make it or we cover something else during class time.

We talked briefly about how to take data, but we will cover that a bit more in detail when I get back from break. Here's a link to the datasheets again.

We didn't find anything under the boards, but there could be several reasons for that. The boards are brand new, and it takes time for them to be "seasoned" and for animals to start hanging out under them. Each year the boards are down, they are more productive in terms of finding animals, so we may not find animals even this season. Also, some of the boards are in higher traffic zones, and the animals probably avoid those areas. Finally, some of the boards may not be in ideal habitat locations to find animals. This information is important for the coverboard study becasue we are trying to figure out where the animals live. If we know where they don't live, we are getting closer to answering our question. Science can be frustrating sometimes, especially field science!