Teah Nauman’s research has been able to identify a test for detecting commercial baits for white-tailed deer in the field by looking at the reaction of acetic acid with sodium bicarbonate. However, analysis of data from deer feces has not proven to be as transparent. Even with the use of Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy and Mass Spectroscopy, Teah has not been able to see a difference in the chemical composition of feces produced by white-tailed deer that have been given commercial bait in comparison to deer that have not.
If you have students about to graduate this May, or if you know of students who graduated in the last year or two and are still looking for field biology positions, please forward this e-mail to them and encourage them to visit www.alaskanobservers.com. They can also e-mail me at r-moore@alaskanobservers.com or call me at 1-888-317-9343 to get more information. Additionally, we’ll be recruiting again in the fall for both the North Pacific (Alaska) and Trawl Catch Shares (West Coast) Observer Programs.
Rachel Moore
The Millersville Ornithology class has been witnessing the explosion in bird diversity with the arrival of Spring. We have taken a number of trips to local filed sites to survey for birds. The diversity of warblers, vireos and many other birds has kept the class busy looking up at the trees. Our last 3 class surveys have totaled near 70 species of birds. Students have especially enjoyed the arrival of Indigo Buntings (picture below by Ed Schneider) and Baltimore Orioles.
On May 1st, 2013, The Millersville General Biology Lab went for a red-backed salamander (picture below) hunt at a local wooded lot just outside the Millersville Campus. The goal of the hunt was to follow a transect through the woods, look under forest debris to find salamanders, take a picture of the salamander and then GPS the location. In total the class found 14 salamanders. In addition, they found 2 eastern garter snakes and a nice fat female American toad. They did a great job working through the stinging nettle as well as the rasberry and rose bushes to complete the survey. Well done.
Conservation Happenings at Millersville University
