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Millersville’s Dr. Aaron Haines, biology, and three of his undergraduate researchers majoring in environmental biology attended the 21st annual Conference of the Wildlife Society in Pittsburgh this October.
At the conference, students Meta Griffin, Tristan Conrad and Andrew Wolfgang presented the results of their research. Griffin and Conrad have been identifying different techniques to determine if commercial deer baits leave a chemical signature in the soil that is detectable through chemical analysis. Tentative results from their research indicate that detection of elevated levels of sodium could be used to determine if an area has been baited illegally.
Wolfgang evaluated the efficiency of a fully-automated process for bird identification based on target vocalizations of four Pennsylvania winter bird species. He used a Wildlife Acoustics SM-2 automated recorder to record bird songs that were then screened by call recognition software. Wolfgang found that computer software can be used to identify bird song, but the software can be inconsistent. HIs research results recommend that a database of birdcall recognition software models be developed and maintained by experts as a more efficient way to test for diversity of vocal species.
In addition to presenting their research, the students attended a number of informative scientific presentations and attended a student professional mixer in which they met potential employees in their field of study, colleagues they have worked with and Millersville Alumni that are now professionals in the wildlife field.
Haines volunteered with the Wildlife Society to help supervise the student professional mixer, which is an excellent opportunity for students to network. Haines also presented a talk on the need for more research in regards to wildlife law enforcement to help wildlife conservation officers mitigate poaching and the illegal wildlife trade via wildlife crime prevention strategies.
The Wildlife Society annual conference is one of the largest gatherings of wildlife professionals and students in North America. For more than 20 years, The Wildlife Society has hosted the event that provides more than 400 educational opportunities and more than 50 networking opportunities through working groups, meetings and receptions.
