Little is known about the total population of deer that plague the city of Austin. The overpopulation of one species can have detrimental effects on the ecosystem it dwells in. This semester, two St. Edward’s University students, Christopher Johnson and Gregory Washington, worked on a mark-recapture study to estimate the total population of deer at Wild Basin. They set up four trap cameras throughout the preserve. The function of these sophisticated trap cameras is to take a picture of anything that crosses the path of the lens that falls within a predetermined set of parameters. They run the photos through facial recognition software to distinguish the deer by certain characteristics and get a proper tabulation of the total population without recounting the same deer. Once they get individual identifications they can then use a mark-recapture program to estimate the total deer population at Wild Basin.
The students are using several different types of software to help determine deer population size during this project, one of which is Wild-ID. Wild-ID distinguishes certain characteristics of the animals, such as size and shapes of deer antlers, for recognition of individual deer. Once they have compiled this data, Wild Basin will then be able to use it to answer larger questions about how these deer, and their presumed overpopulation, are affecting the ecosystem to which they belong. Analysis will be performed next semester and the project will be instrumental for estimating the deer population on a yearly basis.
This post originally appeared on the Wild Basin’s blog on 12/6/2013. Please visit their website for more information on this and other research projects.