Wildlife Tech Class of 2015Somers High SchoolMentor: Rebecca Walling (SUNY ESF) Project: Patterns of plant biodiversity and invasive earthworm densities at the Mianus River Gorge. Project Status: Completed Project Description: Since the 1700s, earthworms from Europe and, more recently, Asia have been introduced to North America and have been reproducing and expanding since. These organisms […]
Wildlife Tech Class of 2015Pleasantville High SchoolMentors: Chris Nagy (MRG) and Sheila Saia (Cornell University) Project: Aquatic macroinvertebrate diversity upstream and downstream of three road runoff entry points. Project Status: Completed Project Description: Stormwater runoff from roads into waterways can alter water chemistry and greatly reduce water quality. The spotty nature of these runoff inputs […]
Wildlife Tech Class of 2014Mamaroneck High School Project: Using Automatic Species Recognition Software to Identify Animals in our Wildlife Camera Project Status: Completed Camera traps have been used as an effective way to sample wildlife. However, biologists often have to sort through a large number of pictures to find a few photos of their target species. The […]
Wildlife Tech Class of 2014Ossining High SchoolMentors: MRG Staff and Dan Aitchison (Westchester County Parks) Project: Improving the Camera Trap Abundance Estimates of White-Tailed Deer Project Status: Ongoing Project Description: MRG uses camera traps to monitor deer abundance. This method relies on high quality photographs of branch-antlered deer. Lucia will be experimenting with lures to see if […]
Wildlife Tech Class of 2014Blind Brook High SchoolMentor: Chris Nagy (MRG) Project: Using Camera Traps to Test the Efficacy of Hair and Box Traps for Sampling Suburban Carnivores Project Status: Completed Project Description: Mammalian carnivores, such as the coyote (Canis latrans), are often difficult to monitor in the wild because of their secretive nature and low […]
Wildlife Tech Class of 2014Mamaroneck High School Mentors: MRG Staff and Suzanne Clemente (Pace University) Project: Activity Period of Coyotes and Other Meso-Predators Along an Urban-Rural Gradient Project Status: Completed Project Description: From January 2012 to February 2013, Carolyn helped Gorge staff run camera traps in 16 parks and protected preserves in New York City (NYC) to […]
Wildlife Tech Class of 2014High School for Environmental StudiesMentors: MRG Staff Project: Estimating Deer Abundance in the Bronx, NY Project Status: Ongoing Project Description: The Bronx is the last place you would expect to see deer. But they are there and their numbers are believed to be on the rise. Andrew will be using camera traps to […]
Class of 2014Byram Hills High SchoolMentors: MRG Staff, Stan McGuigan Project: Restoration of Locally Threatened Wildflowers to a Post-Agricultural Forest Project Status: Ongoing Project Description: The restoration of wildflowers to a suburban forest is important because there has been substantial change to forest communities in and around Westchester County, NY, which may make the restoration […]
Class of 2014Sleepy Hollow High SchoolMentors: MRG Staff, Bruce Synder (Kansas State University) Project: Boraria stricta — an exotic millipede in the Mianus River Gorge Preserve Project Status: Completed Project Description: Boraria stricta (yellow-spotted millipede), a millipede species native to southern Appalachia, was first observed in the Mianus River Gorge Preserve, in Bedford, NY, in […]
Wildlife Tech Class of 2014Yorktown Heights High SchoolMentor: Sheila Saia (Cornell University) Project: Using Hydrological Models to Estimate Water Saturation Potential of Soils in the Mianus Watershed Project Status: Completed Project Description: Watershed modeling requires spatially explicit knowledge of soil moisture. Drying and weighing soil core samples for percent moisture is the best way to […]