Observer Reliability
Dr. Mark Elbroch gave a talk at the 2021 North American Wildlife Tracker
Conference entitled "Tracker, Biologist, Scientist: Which are you and
which do you want to be?" He described a part of a research study on
mountain lion kill sites in a section of the talk he called "Who's
eating the meat? Coyotes or Red Foxes?" The study was conducted from
2001 through 2016. The researchers identified the presence of coyotes
and red foxes primarily from tracks at the kill sites. From 2001 through
2011, red foxes comprised very few of the wildlife kill sites, and
coyotes comprised, on average, about 40-50% of the wildlife at kill
sites. Observations changed in 2012. Coyotes comprised about 13% of the
wildlife at kill sites from 2012 through 2016 and red foxes comprised
about 22%.
Dr. Elbroch wondered what caused the change in the relative presence of
coyotes and red foxes at the kill sites, so he tested several hypotheses
against the presence of red foxes. He considered the carnivore cascade
hypothesis first. This hypothesis maintains that wolves will reduce the
presence of coyotes in an area. This would increase the presence of red
foxes. Dr. Ebroch's analysis concluded that the carnivore cascade
hypothesis could account for about 30% of the change in the presence of
red foxes at mountain lion kill sites. Dr. Elbroch then considered
whether the predator-prey hypothesis could account for some of the
change. The predator-prey hypothesis maintains that the abundance of
predators is positively related to the abundance of their prey. Dr.
Ebroch's analysis concluded that the predator-prey hypothesis could
account for 2% of the change in the presence of red foxes at mountain
lion kill sites. Finally, Dr. Elbroch considered the observer error
hypothesis. Dr. Elbroch examined the relationship between the number of
researchers on the project who were certified in track & sign and the
presence of red foxes at mountain lion kill sites. He found that the
observer-error hypothesis could account for 70% of the change in the
presence of red fox.
Southwest Wildlife Online Tracking Training
Southwest Wildlife Online Tracking Training is a
distance-learning wildlife track and sign identification training
resource. Its mission is to teach track & sign identification to
beginning and intermediate students in a way that assists them in
achieving
Cybertracker certification
within one year of completing the course sequence.
Applicants who have some involvement in wildlife
conservation are given precedence in admission. Examples of such
involvement include but are not limited to biological research, wildlife
monitoring, public outreach, education, habitat restoration or cleanup,
contributing observations or identifications to iNaturalist, or
assisting with administration in a conservation organization.
Participation in wildlife conservation may be performed as a
professional or as a volunteer. The ideal student is someone who intends
to apply track & sign identification to some aspect of wildlife
conservation and who has limited access to other tracking education
resources. The seven blocks of the course offered by Southwest Wildlife
Online Tracking Training focus on species from San Diego County because
the principal author of the course materials has thousands of animal
track and sign photos from that region. The course teaches a particular
analytical approach to track and sign identification that has been used
successfully on Cybertracker track & sign evaluations. The approach can
be applied equally well to species from any region.
The Desert Track & Sign Identification Course Sequence
The course sequence consists of seven mini-courses.
Mini-courses are scheduled according to applicant demand.
Study materials are downloadable from the online classroom. Each mini-course
has an exercise set and a test. Most exercise and test questions consist
of track & sign identification
problems based on photographs of tracks or signs. Student answers to
exercise questions are posted as comments to the exercise question posts.
Solutions to the exercises are arrived at through conversations with an
assigned instructor. A certificate is granted to students who pass the
test iabout:blank#blockedn the Comprehensive Review mini-course. Certificate holders are
granted access to all future course materials via "observer" accounts.
Admission to mini-courses 2-7 is contingent upon
having taken the previous mini-course relatively recently or passing the
test from the previous mini-course during the application period.
Mini-courses
- Multi-factor Analysis, Track Measurement, and Track Pattern Analysis - duration six weeks.
Example Question - Canidae, Felidae, Leporidae, Procyonidae, and Didelphida - duration seven weeks.
Example Question - Mephitidae, Mustelidae, Soricidae, Talpidae, Ursidae, Equidae, and ungulates - duration seven weeks.
Example Question - Rodentia - duration six weeks.
Example Question - Mammal Skulls - duration six weeks.
Example Question - Birds, Reptiles, Amphibians, and Invertebrates - duration six weeks.
Example Question - Comprehensive Review - duration six weeks.
- Mini-course: $40
- Admission Test: $20 (applicable to Mini-course cost)