Help Wanted: Camera trappers, scientists, field/wildlife biologists!

I'm in need of some serious smarty-pants input here!

As I've mentioned in earlier posts (Research Methods in Biology), I'm beginning an undergraduate research field study next week.

Finger Lakes Community College was awarded a sizeable grant which is meant to promote research at the community college level across New York State. I happen to be here when the grant was awarded, and have amazing faculty and staff behind me motivating me to take advantage of the resources!

 

MY QUESTION: Having an issue narrowing it down...

-Effects of scent lures on medium to large sized mammals

-When are medium to large sized mammals most active?

-Does bait influence activity level?

I'm also having some issues with my experimental design....

Briefly: I have 4 Cuddeback Attack IR cameras. I have 5 scent lures (1 canine, 1 carnivore, 2 beaver, 1 woodchuck). I want to use scent lure. I only have 12 weeks to do this. Publishing is NOT an end goal, but would be a perk!

 

I am only using one beaver lure (both are made from castor glands). So I will have a total of 4 scents.

 I am using the Muller Field Station which is in Honeoye, NY. The habitat is a riparian area, with a mown walking path. I've experienced observing the following mammals in one way or another along the "channel path" as we call it: squirrel sp, beaver, muskrat, mink, red fox, river otter, black bear, weasel sp, mice sp, coyote, opossum, raccoon, white-tailed deer, etc etc...basically, lot's of critters!

Here's what I'm working with.

'Kiosk' is the start of the trail, 'Gate' is the end.

I have a half mile (2640ft) to work with, in pretty much a straight line. This is my transect. Here are the two scenarios I'm trying to decide between, and associated questions:

Scenario #1: I'm using 4 cameras, 4 scents. I divide the distance from Kiosk to Gate (2640ft) into 4 sections=660 ft gap between cameras. Week #1 I will randomize order of 4 scents, and deploy in front of cameras onto a scent pad. Weeks #2-#12 I will rotate the scent pad and refresh south one spot each time. The end scent pad will come back to the kiosk end. Etc etc. Each camera will have a repeat of each scent 3 times, for the same amount of time each time.

	Camera 1	Camera 2	Camera 3	Camera 4
Week 1     2/6	G	NC	B	TD
Week 2     2/13	TD	G	NC	B
Week 3     2/20	B	TD	G	NC
Week 4     2/27	NC	B	TD	G
Week 5     3/5	G	NC	B	TD
Week 6     3/12	TD	G	NC	B
Week 7     3/19	B	TD	G	NC
Week 8     3/26	NC	B	TD	G
Week 9      4/2	G	NC	B	TD
Week 10    4/9	TD	G	NC	B
Week 11    4/16	B	TD	G	NC
Week 12    4/23	NC	B	TD	G

 G- Gusto          TD- Toxi-Dog          B- Beaver Super All-Call          NC- Num-Chuck

Scenario #2: I use 5 cameras, 4 scent + 1 control (water). I divide the distance from Kiosk to Gate into 5= 528ft gap between cameras. Week #1 I will randomize order of scents + control, and deploy. Control camera would have a scent pad as well that would get a splash of bottled water. Weeks #2-#12 same as above. Each camera will NOT have a repeat of scents/control no more than 2 times, some may be 3 repeats depending on where it falls on my chart.

	Camera 1	Camera 2	Camera 3	Camera 4	Control Camera
Week 1     2/6	G	NC	B	TD	C
Week 2  2/13	C	G	NC	B	TD
Week 3  2/20	TD	C	G	NC	B
Week 4  2/27	B	TD	C	G	NC
Week 5   3/5	NC	B	TD	C	G
Week 6  3/12	G	NC	B	TD	C
Week 7  3/19	C	G	NC	B	TD
Week 8  3/26	TD	C	G	NC	B
Week 9   4/2	B	TD	C	G	NC
Week 10  4/9	NC	B	TD	C	G
Week 114/16	G	NC	B	TD	C
Week 124/23	C	G	NC	B	TD

G- Gusto         TD- Toxi-Dog          B- Beaver Super All-Call         NC- Num-Chuck         C- Control (water)

Three questions I have:

1. Is it necessary to have a control?
2. Are the camera/scents too close together? I'm concerned with scent drifting.
3. How should I hang cameras? Perpindicular to the trail, parallel to the trail, or at a 45* angle to the trail?

Success to me would be a rich diversity of mammal species camera trapped, and then watching frequencies of species.

Any and ALL input would be well received. I'm deploying the scent and cameras Monday morning, so I will take the rest of this week to fine-tune my protocol, then sit back and let the critters come to my cameras!

I stopped by the field station today to scope out the conditions. This is a picture of exactly where I'll be hanging my cameras! It was so warm (50*F!), drizzly, foggy...I felt like I was in a temperate rainforest!