Browsing by Subject "Deer"

Now showing 1 - 9 of 9
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    Applying unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and thermal infrared technology for the detection and surveying of wild ungulates
    (2021-07) McMahon, Michael
    The use of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) for wildlife surveying and research has widely expanded in the past decade, but with varying levels of success. Applying UAS paired with Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) technology to survey forest-dwelling species has been particularly challenging because of unreliable animal detection. There is also little understood about how the novel technology of UAS compares to conventional methodologies for surveying wildlife populations. The goal of this thesis project was to evaluate the efficacy of FLIR-equipped UAS for surveying wild animal populations. We focused on moose (Alces alces) and white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) as study species for examining the efficacy of UAS for surveying large-bodied, forest-dwelling species. My first chapter presents a background on wildlife population surveying, with a literature review of several methodologies including; fecal pellet counts, remote camera surveys, aerial surveying, thermal infrared sensing, and the relatively new approach of UAS surveys for wildlife. These topics are discussed because they are all widely applied for surveying wildlife and estimating population parameters. My second chapter describes our work using a quadcopter-style UAS and FLIR sensor to detect wild GPS-collared moose and conduct calf counts. We collected environmental variables to model moose detection success in order to improve UAS moose detection rates. We found that UAS thermal detection increased with greater cloud cover, and was hindered by increased forest canopy, and increased vegetative greenness. Overall, we report that FLIR-equipped UAS shows potential for monitoring the reproductive success and survival of wildlife species in densely forested regions. My third chapter reports our application of a FLIR-equipped fixed-wing UAS to estimate the population density of wild white-tailed deer at the Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve. We compared density estimates from UAS methodology to density estimates generated from fecal pellet counts to describe how novel technology compares to conventional approaches of population surveying. We modeled deer counts and detection probabilities, and calculated both point estimates and bootstrapped prediction intervals for deer density from UAS and pellet-group count data. We found that there was overlap for density and abundance estimate values between methodologies; however, UAS surveys were more efficient and required less field effort than conventional pellet count surveys.
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    Climate change, forest composition, and outdoor recreation in northeastern Minnesota
    (2022-09) Bakshi, Baishali
    Climate change will likely result in a change in the composition of northern Minnesota forests by the end of the century, affecting outdoor recreation, which is a valuable ecosystem service as well as a key economic driver for the state with over $4 billion in annual expenditures in hunting, fishing, and wildlife viewing. Yet, the links between climate change, forest composition, and outdoor recreation have not been well studied. Current research finds that deer can also affect the links between climate change, forest composition, and outdoor recreation. In this dissertation, I examine and evaluate the links between these four main variables: climate change, forest composition, deer, and outdoor recreation, and a variety of other relevant predictors, using a combination of econometric modeling and spatial analysis applied to region-specific data in the Laurentian Mixed Forest Province (LMF) of northern Minnesota. My results improve understanding of these complex relationships to better inform Minnesota’s climate adaptation strategies and contribute to the literature on ecosystem services.
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    Conformational changes in actinin-type actin binding domains: probing actin-induced structural dynamics in dystrophin and utrophin using EPR spectroscopy.
    (2014-12) Crain, Jonathan
    The underlying cause of Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophies is a lack of functional dystrophin, a large multidomain protein. Dystrophin is normally expressed in muscle, where it links the extracellular matrix to the cortical actin cytoskeleton via a complex of associated proteins. Dystrophin, and its autosomal homologue utrophin, connect with the actin cytoskeleton through two F-actin binding domains, including an N-terminal "actinin-type" actin binding domain (ABD).In addition to dystrophin and utrophin, actinin-type ABDs are found in a large number of proteins. Nonetheless, the actin binding mechanism remains poorly understood: x-ray crystallography and electron microscopy have produced conflicting models. Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy, especially double electron-electron resonance (DEER), can be used to distinguish between these models or to build new models. In this thesis, I present data from DEER experiments which suggest that actinin-type ABDs of dystrophin and utrophin adopt unexpected conformations in solution.
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    Effects of herbivores on ground flora and nutrient dynamics along Lake Superior's North Shore Highlands
    (2012-12) McGarry, Elizabeth Anne
    Impacts due to ungulate herbivores such as moose and white-tailed deer have been of interest to researchers and resource managers for years. Recent studies have begun to suggest the presence of alternative stable states in these systems where the existence of hysteresis could result in significant changes to the understory community that would be costly and time consuming to undo. However, before such assertions can be made, the presence of different states needs to be established. Our study investigated changes to the understory community and nutrient dynamics of twelve paired moose and white-tailed deer exclosure and control plots located along a 95-mile section of the Lake Superior North Shore Highlands. Exclosure ages ranged from 11 to 24 years old. During the summer of 2010, we measured understory and shrub species percent cover, sapling densities, litter depth, and bulk soil composition inside and outside of exclosures at each site. Nitrogen availability was also measured at three sites using resin bags. Browsing significantly affected understory vegetation at all sites except one, as well as ammonium (NH4) availability and percent of nitrogen and carbon in the mineral soil. The directions of these effects varied by site and seemed to be related to differences in canopy composition, age of exclosure, and relative ungulate population size. Future studies should monitor long-term changes through time, as some trends may be important early on in forest recovery while others do not appear until years later. Although our study design was not able to detect evidence of hysteresis or affirm the presence of alternative stable states, we believe it does suggest evidence of instability and non-linear ecosystem impacts of ungulate herbivory.
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    Effects of White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) Browsing and Prescribed Burns on Seedlings and Saplings in Itasca State Park, Minnesota
    (2010-04-12) Cosgrove, Angela; Kopp, Jason; Wallace, Courtney
    The purpose of the study was to determine if white-tailed deer browsing or prescribed burning had an effect on seedlings and saplings in Itasca State Park. There were four study sites located in the park: Mary Lake Unburned Exclosure, Wildness Drive Burned Exclosure, Wildness Drive Burned Area and Wildness Drive Unburned Area. It was hypothesized that the highest abundance of seedlings and saplings would be at the Wilderness Drive Burned Exclosure and the lowest abundance at Wilderness Drive Unburned Area. The data showed no correlation between abundance of deer scat and abundance of seedlings but there is a positive correlation between deer scat and abundance of saplings. This could be due in part to the fact that the deer exclosures did not completely exclude deer. The data showed no correlation between seedlings and saplings between burned sites and between unburned sites. Pine regeneration was not significant in the study transects but it was noted that there were white pine seedlings present at each site.
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    Identifying Deer Vehicle Collision Concentrations in Minnesota
    (Minnesota Department of Transportation, 2023-11) Stern, Raphael; Moen, Ron; Zare, Arian; Bober, Marissa
    Deer-vehicle collisions (DVCs) represent a significant hazard on Minnesota roads, with roughly 1,200 DVCs reported annually to the Minnesota Department of Public Safety (MnDPS) and many more going unreported. While DVCs are common across Minnesota, local variations in deer density as well as roadway characteristics and use patterns make DVCs more likely to occur on some roadways than others. Moreover, the true extent of DVC concentrations is unclear due to the high proportion of DVCs that go unreported. This report presents findings from research that (1) uses data to identify areas of DVC concentration based on the specific roadway characteristics and (2) presents a methodology to estimate DVC reporting rate across the state. This methodology is applied in a pilot study in the Duluth area, as well as in an extended search area that includes highways spread across much of outstate Minnesota to estimate the DVC reporting rate.
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    Multiple Disturbances and the Turbulent Forest
    (2023-08) Reed, Samuel
    I have always been drawn to change, whether I liked it or not. As a kid, I was obsessed with dinosaurs and their extinction, all while having to move constantly as a Navy brat. As an adult, I am devoted to understanding how and why systems change, likely inspired by the unending change of my childhood. However, as I matured, I realized that change is almost never spurred by a single event, but rather a multitude of shocks to the system. This dissertation focuses on the complexity of multiple ecological disturbances and highlights their importance in the world. Using several multi-disturbance experiments, I explore a wide variety of disturbance interactions in the temperate deciduous forest. The first chapter of this dissertation focuses on how deer and canopy gaps influence invasive earthworms, shedding new light on how aboveground events can change belowground communities. The second chapter builds upon the first and tests how combined deer and canopy gaps influence understory regeneration over 15 years, with some reference to invasive earthworms. Lastly, the third chapter explores how combined fire, deer, and canopy gaps change the seed bank over 13 years. Each of the aforementioned disturbances are common and influential in eastern forests, although they are not often studied together. In each chapter we find that community responses vary depending on the disturbances in question. This dissertation is meant to highlight how little we know about the many ways in which multiple disturbances change ecosystems and how critical it is that we start to study these complex drivers of change, particularly as the climate warms and disturbances become more frequent on the landscape.
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    Techniques to Monitor Road Crossings and Animal-Vehicle Collisions
    (University of Minnesota Duluth, 2009) Moen, Ronald
    Motor vehicle accidents caused by deer and moose cause property damage and deaths each year. The most recent estimate of the number of deer-vehicle collisions across the U.S. was more than 1 million, with costs of deer-vehicle collisions nationwide are more than $3.5 billion dollars. We developed and tested a self-powered video camera observation system to monitor roadways and wildlife crossing areas. We contrast use of a video system to use of trail cameras. The data collected with this system will enable identification of animal species crossing roads, the frequency of road crossings, animal behavior on and near roads, and vehicle (human) response to potential animal dangers.
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    Thermal Image-Based Deer Detection to Reduce Accidents Due to Deer-Vehicle Collisions
    (Intelligent Transportation Systems Institute, Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota, 2013-01) Zhou, Debao
    Deer-vehicle collision (DVC) is one of the most serious traffic issues in the Unite States. To reduce DVCs, this research developed a system using a contour-based histogram of oriented gradients algorithm (CNT-HOG) to identify deer through the processing of images taken by thermographic cameras. The system is capable of detecting deer in low visibility. Two motors are applied to enlarge the detection range and make the system capable of tracking deer by providing two degrees of freedom. The main assumption in the CNT-HOG algorithm is that the deer are brighter than their background in a thermo image. The brighter areas are defined as the regions of interest, or ROIs. ROIs were identified based on the contours of brighter areas. HOG features were then collected and certain detection frameworks were applied to the image portions in the ROIs instead of the whole image. In the detection framework, a Linear Support Vector Machine classifier was applied to achieve identification. The system has been tested in various scenarios, such as a zoo and roadways in different weather conditions. The influence of the visible percentage of a deer body and the posture of a deer on detection accuracy has been measured. The results of the applications on roadside have shown that this system can achieve high detection accuracy (up to 100%) with fast computation speed (10 Hz). Achieving such a goal will help to decrease the occurrence of DVCs on roadsides.