User: | Open Learning Faculty Member:
I conducted a call survey at 10 locations throughout PEI. The information I gathered was a bit challenging to piece together to present it in a meaningful way. I took 5-minute recordings at each location, then listened later, and assessed abundance based on the calling. I am fortunate that my day job allowed me access to a YSI meter to collect nitrate levels at each of the locations. I then used mapping software to measure the distance from each calling site to the closest active farming site.
I am presenting my nitrate levels at each location in a table. I plotted my distance to farming (independent variable) on my X-axis and the number of anurans on the Y-axis (dependent) variable. The correlation to farming and species abundance that I predicted, does not appear to exist. PEI has been more involved in the past 20 years of restoring wetlands, establishing guidelines, and enforcing best management practices for the farming industry, which is a possible explanation as to why there is no correlation. I am hoping to return to my same job next summer as a wildlife technician and using this framework to set up another abundance study, to include all amphibian species on the island, not just anurans.
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