Using Remote Camera Technology to Survey Sharp-Tailed Grouse Leks in Montana

Some of the biggest challenges in conducting lek surveys for sharp-tailed grouse in Montana are weather-related road access, distance between leks, visibility, and determining the maximum number of males and females at the lek. The optimum time to survey peak dancing displays on leks is during the first few hours of morning daylight in April. Surveys are traditionally conducted by biologists with binoculars or scopes in vehicles racing between distant leks to count sharptails before the dancing stops for the day. Vehicular access to private land, snowstorms, muddy roads, and difficult hiking create problems in reaching leks during the peak mating season, and thus limit the efficacy and scope of sharp-tailed grouse surveys. Biologists have used aircraft to locate new sharp-tailed grouse leks but this method is costly and not commonly employed. The authors found no reports of remote cameras being used to count sharp-tailed grouse on leks. The objective of this study was to determine if remote cameras would be an accurate and cost-effective tool to survey sharp-tailed grouse leks. The resulting camera images recorded more birds at a lek than ocular estimates or flushing counts yielded. Additionally, the cameras worked well in all types of weather conditions, were low maintenance, reduced human disturbance to leks, and were cost-effective. Incidental data collected included visitation to leks by predators, length of lek abandonment post-disturbance, and effects of weather conditions on dancing

Surveying mobile populations: lessons from recent longitudinal surveys of Indigenous Australians

Geographically mobile populations are notoriously difficult to survey, especially in a cross-cultural context. In broad terms, it is difficult to ensure that respondents are representative of the underlying population and that data obtained are relevant to them. At a practical level, the problem can be as basic as not having any well-formed notion of what defines a household. Consequently, the resulting analysis of households is at best imprecise and, at worst, conceptually confused. Longitudinal data add a time dimension to surveys and the resulting analysis is potentially sensitive to the initial experience of individual respondents. This paper documents the lessons for the design and conduct of longitudinal data collection from three recent surveys of an exceptionally mobile population, Indigenous Australians. Since high levels of mobility characterise many unemployed and younger Australians, the lessons described here have wider application for general longitudinal surveys

Practicing Community: The Future of Liberal Learning

Inspired by Lynn Pasquerella’s challenge to “revolutionize higher education”; José Antonio Bowen’s question,“Are we being bold enough?”; and Brian Rosenberg’s description of current changes to higher education as “more than tinkering but less than revolutionary,” our conversations highlighted ideas that the articles imply but do not fully address. Mindful of sobering realities, seeking to revolutionize, and recalling AAC&U’s commitment to higher education as preparation for work, life, and civic engagement, we identified three crucial outcomes

Perspectives of two ethnically different pre-service teacher populations as they learn about folk literature

This is the authors' accepted manuscript, post peer-review. The publisher's official version can be found at: http://scholarlyexchange.org/ojs/index.php/JERI/article/view/9529/7041.The purpose of this study was to investigate pre-service teachers’ knowledge of folk literature in general and that of a selected country or culture in particular before and after studying it in a college children's literature course and completing an assignment. We specifically compared two sample populations: those of primarily European American descent at a research university and those of Native American ethnicity at an Inter-tribal Native American university to see if there were similarities or differences in their knowledge about and value of folk literature. Participants from each university were selected to complete a pre-post questionnaire and a post-interview about what they learned about folk literature in general and a particular country or culture's stories as well. Analysis of the data showed similarity between the two sample populations on their knowledge of folk literature and understanding of other countries/cultures. There were differences in their projected application of the learned information. Implications for teacher educators are discussed

Perspectives of Two Ethnically Different Pre-service Teacher Populations as They Learn About Folk Literature

The purpose of this study was to investigate pre-service teachers’ knowledge of folk literature in general and that of a selected country or culture in particular before and after studying it in a college children\u27s literature course and completing an assignment. We specifically compared two sample populations: those of primarily European American descent at a research university and those of Native American ethnicity at an Inter-tribal Native American university to see if there were similarities or differences in their knowledge about and value of folk literature. Participants from each university were selected to complete a pre-post questionnaire and a post-interview about what they learned about folk literature in general and a particular country or culture\u27s stories as well. Analysis of the data showed similarity between the two sample populations on their knowledge of folk literature and understanding of other countries/cultures. There were differences in their projected application of the learned information. Implications for teacher educators are discussed

Longevity and Productivity of Three Wolves, Canis lupus, in the Wild

We document longevity and productivity of three Wolves (Canis lupus) in the wild in Montana and Idaho, USA. Two male Wolves each attained ages of at least 13 years, while a female was 12.2 years old. All three Wolves in our study were older at the time of their last known reproductive events than others reported in the literature