Advanced Camera Trapping Workshop

Advanced Camera Trapping Workshop with Susan E. Townsend, PhD.

This workshop is for wildlife biologists who have experience with camera trapping but would like to learn more about designing

camera trapping studies, options for managing, summarizing and analyzing data effectively, and reporting results from camera trapping studies. The majority of the workshop will be lecture and computer based with a small field component.

The workshop will be held in San Rafael and Muir Beach area in Marin County

$450 Members (Use Coupon Code MEMBERS)

$495 Non-members

Contact Leslie Koenig with any questions at: tws.sf.workshops@gmail.com

More Workshop Details:

The majority of the workshop will be lecture and computer based with a small field component. The focus of this workshop is formulating objectives, designing a study to answer questions, establishing protocols and standard methodologies, collecting essential data during deployment and maintenance, cataloguing images, and summarizing effort and basic results as it pertains to camera trapping research projects. Analyses including occupancy modeling with an emphasis on landscape-level camera trapping efforts will be covered. Different software packages will be introduced with some demonstrations. Meta-data standards will be reviewed. A bibliography and background literature will be provided. No knowledge of R is required but we will be discussing R packages as it relates to camera trapping. The lecture and instructional component will briefly cover camera trap

selection in light of camera trapping objectives; a number of models will be available to examine. We will have a hands-on demonstration of Wildlife Insights and, as able, other software packages. We will have several presenters from the Marin Wildlife Picture Index Project (MWPIP).

The field component will include handling different camera models, visiting camera traps using protocols and datasheets and participating in a landscape-level camera trapping research project. We will review current methods for landscape level camera trapping such as the Wildlife Picture Index (a method to determine trends in biodiversity) and present case studies from Mongolia and the San Francisco Bay Area. Participants will also receive digital copies of materials including methods, instructions and links to other camera trapping manuals and protocols, links to hardware, software and organizations (websites) that provide relevant information.

Susan E. Townsend, Ph.D., will lead the workshop with guest lecturers (tbd) to present about other camera

trapping projects locally and internationally. Instructional component will be held at the Creekside Center in San Rafael (just off Lucas Valley Road) and nearby venues in Marin County, CA. The field component will include visits to existing camera arrays in nearby Muir Woods and/or Muir Beach.

Day 1 - 1/2 day Lecture

Focus on hardware, protocols, methods, best data management practices, available resources, and how to design your study to answer your questions.

Day 2 - Full day Lecture

Focus on reporting and analytics, hands on use of software, simple ways to manage image data, extract EXIF into

spreadsheets for rapid cataloguing, the latest camera trapping software.

Day 3 - 1/2 day Field

Field trip to Muir Woods where an active long-term camera trapping project is

underway and/or other nearby cameras.