Report to Superintendents Tom Olliff

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Report to Superintendents Tom Olliff
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Park Responsibility
Interior Page
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AT MEGA-Transect Appalachian Trail
Environmental Monitoring Program
Fred Dieffenbach, Brian Mitchell, and Theresa
Moore Northeast Temperate Network
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• Northeast Temperate
• Eastern Rivers Mountains
• Mid-Atlantic
• National Capital
• Appalachian Highlands
• Cumberland Piedmont

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• ME-GA

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Bias Estimation for the National Capital Region
Deer Distance Sampling Protocol
Patrick Campbell Network Coordinator
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• NCRN using DISTANCE sampling to monitor deer
  populations using roads as transects
• DISTANCE assumes animals are distributed randomly
• However, roads are not distributed randomly
• Roads can influence deer distribution
• i.e. if deer congregate along roads, then
  DISTANCE will overestimate populations.
• Objective 1) test if deer are distributed
  independently with respect to roads, and 2)
  identify areas along road transects that fail to
  meet the assumptions required for Distance
  sampling.
• Tested in one forested park (Catoctin), one
  grassland park (Antietam)

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Methods

• Used remotely triggered digital cameras
  (80/survey/year)
• Cameras randomly placed along survey routes and
  within buffer categories
• (0-10m, 10-50m, 50-100m, 150-200m)
• Same survey routes used for Distance sampling and
  bias study
• Covariates
• Distance to road
• Distance to survey route
• Distance to forest

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Antietam

• Lower density near roads (DISTANCE allows
  truncation)
• No decline in photos away from roads (Good)
• No decline in observations away from roads
  (Uniform distribution model)
• Deer seem to avoid roads due to high levels of
  traffic

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Catoctin

• No decline in photos away from roads (Good)
• No avoidance of roads
• Observations decline away from road (negative
  exponential model)

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Conclusion

• Biases identified but can be easily corrected in
  DISTANCE
• Bias minimal in forest park, greater in grassland
  park