Date of Submission

Spring 2021

Academic Program

Biology

Project Advisor 1

Bruce Robertson

Project Advisor 2

N/A

Abstract/Artist's Statement

White-tailed deer are a prominent and very recognizable species that inhabits the Hudson Valley. Yet, tracking their movements and lifestyle preferences is not so easy. Through the use of camera trap technology, I monitored wildlife for constant 24-hour days. With these cameras, I answered the question, does mating season have an effect on what habitats white-tailed deer spend their time in? The answer here aids in mitigating human-wildlife conflicts, such as car collisions, with white-tailed deer. This is because when we know where they prefer to spend time, we can either better avoid them or deter them from spaces in which they will interact with humans. In the field I had 5 forest sites and 5 grassland sites, the two habitats I chose to determine habitat preference. Each site was equipped with two cameras that used infrared monitoring to take pictures when a species moved into its field of view. Cameras were in the field for 3 weeks each for both seasons. I hope the photos I captured that helped me determine habitat and other trends for white-tailed deer on Bard campus can lead to further studies on white-tailed deer behavior and further conflict reduction strategies at or around Bard College.

Open Access Agreement

On-Campus only

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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