Monitoring of White-tailed Deer Population using Citizen Science in Urban Neighborhoods

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Authors
Waldmiller, Caleb
Issue Date
2022-01-01
Type
Thesis
Language
en_US
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Abstract
An overabundance of deer populations in urban are rural areas has been an increasing issue in the past recent years. With urban sprawl on a continual increase, tracking deer populations in urban areas is becoming increasingly common and difficult. In order to find a way to track these populations, scientists have recently been utilizing citizen participation, or citizen science. This method of collecting data allows citizens to participate in a scientific study by taking pictures of deer and uploading to a website. I am continuing a project started in Fall 2020, where students used an app called iNaturalist to catalyze community participation. The app allows for citizens to assist in the tracking of deer populations as they are traveling at an increasing rate due to habitat loss. Residents of Kalamazoo neighborhoods are able to upload pictures of deer that the spot to iNaturalist. The app then creates a map of the sighting locations. These locations were then plotted on Google Earth to estimate herd location and movement. I then compared the results to the results of last year's project. I classified 4 new herds of deer, creating a tentative map of 18 different herds. There was statistically significant data to suggest a relationship between deer their hunt for resources. This study has been conducted and written with the intention that it will aid in the city of Kalamazoo’s ongoing attempt to control the local white-tailed deer population.
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40 p.
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Kalamazoo College
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U.S. copyright laws protect this material. Commercial use or distribution of this material is not permitted without prior written permission of the copyright holder.
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