Research Updates

Now that the spring semester is officially over, we as grad students can all breath a sigh of relief for one moment.  As our lab is filled with field ecologists that moment is over quickly or never happens because we have to prep for outdoor research.  
Some of the things we would like to share with you from this semester are:

• Most road-killed mammals are raccoons and opossums, although squirrels and chipmunks maybe removed by other animals before we realize they have been hit. Robins were the bird that got hit the most. Roads with higher speed limits had fewer road-kill.

• We were able to detect 7 out of 8 native bat species. We did not find N. Long-eared bats (Myotis septentrionalis).

• There maybe a connection between surviving ash and their location to other ash trees.

• That we will be doing science no matter what the political climate or actual climate is.

We are looking forward to doing the following things this summer:

• Greg G. is working on his research assessing the effects of land management practices on terrestrial vertebrate distribution/diversity.

• Amanda M. is already outdoors looking for snakes and turtles to track for her data-set.

• Tyler will be pursuing bat activity data along roads throughout NW Ohio.

• Lauren has successfully defended her thesis work on using roadkill as a lens for animal movement.

• Jen has also successfully defended her thesis on bat diversity and species use of land near roads along a gradient of human land use. 

Congratulations to both of them! They will be finalizing their thesis document and seeking out what the real world has to offer them.

• I (Rachel) am organizing my last field season of ash tree and emerald ash borer beetle surveys.