User: | Open Learning Faculty Member:
Reflecting upon my data collection, I did have some difficulties. A common, recurring issue that I encountered was human disturbance. To address this, I moved to a spot approximately 40 km from my home, located at the confluence of the Peace and Halfway Rivers. Eventually this area also became subject to significant recreational and industrial activity. This ultimately led me to cut my study short (e.g., 9 instead of 10 visits). Fortunately, I was able to collect a breadth of data. Looking at the data, it was somewhat surprising to see that certain species tended to be observed each visit but in relatively distinct strata within the overall study area (e.g., riparian area, floodplain, open water). If my study area had not become as subject to human activity, I would have changed my approach. I would have used the data that I gathered to pilot a study with a more focused approach both spatially (e.g., larger number of transects in each strata) and temporally (e.g., specific times of day over a shorter period) and probably focused on a single species. However, the repeated transect data that I collected will serve me well in small scale stratified study of occupancy. Further, I am still able to include hydrometric data as a variable in the analyses.
