Great Lakes Marsh Monitoring Program Amphibian Survey Data Form Tips

Transcription

1 Great Lakes Marsh Monitoring Program Amphibian Survey Data Form Tips By Kathy. Jones October 2017 Ontario Program Volunteer Coordinator, Bird Studies Canada, Port Rowan, ON

2 The Route/Contact Form

3 Section A: needs to be completed and returned annually Sections B and C: only need to be completed for new routes or when you change your stations

4 C: only need to be completed for new routes or when you change your stations or when you have been asked to provide new station information

5 Remember to tell us about the visit conditions, which route and which station you are surveying. There will be definitions for codes on the very last page of your field form. By telling us the focal point direction we can double-check and ensure your location matches our records

6 Record all that you hear regardless of distance. Tell us which species are in or outside of 100 m with a simple checkmark. Do not record calls behind you.

7 Always include the code. Include the count for codes 1 and 2. Code 3 s have too many individuals to count so just provide the code.

8 Are you sure it is an amphibian? Does that species: normally call that time of the year? in that habitat? are you within its range? Careful! There may be birds or insects calling. Actually a Sora?

9 Remember to tell us about your route, which stations you survey and to enter the noise and times onto the summary sheet.

10 If one or more individual of a species is in the 100m then you fill in the In choice circle. If no individuals of a species are in (see Northern Leopard Frog), you still add the data but you leave the in circle blank. If a species has choruses calling in side and out side of the 100 m radius you include all choruses and individuals (see Spring Peeper). 3

11 Which Code do you report in the summary? the greatest code heard for each species. Code 3 for Spring Peeper and Chorus Frog. Code 2 for Northern Leopard Frog and Wood Frog. 3

12 What do you include as a count? if the greatest code is 3 there are too many individuals to count so you leave it blank (see Chorus Frog). If you have a code 3 chorus and a smaller chorus as shown here for Spring Peeper you still have a code 3 so you don t include a count. For Code 1 and 2 you total the count: For Northern Leopard Frog there is only one chorus and the count is 7. For Woodfrog there are two chorus s and the count is 1+8 = 9. 3

13 The Habitat Description Form

14 HABITAT FORMS Habitat forms should be completed annually let our analysis decide if significant changes have occurred. But only once a year usually about the time of the first bird survey or the second amphibian survey Remind us of your route id and the station id Remember to include the date. Don t review old forms or copy the data from old forms. This prevents us from looking for habitat changes.

15 Need definitions for these? Flip the page over and look at the back. Did you print the form yourself? Remember to ensure you take page 2 (the definitions) into the field with you.

16 Section G: Dominant Emergent Vegetation Look over the emergent vegetation and decide which species are dominant. DOMINANT means it covers at least 10% of the area. Provide the percent cover for the top four dominant species. These do not equal You can provide fewer than 4 e.g. If 94% Cattail nothing else is dominant. Because there are non-dominant emergent vegetation the sum does not have to equal 100% Section G does not equal the emergent vegetation in A they don t need to add to the same amount. Emergent Vegetation only no trees, no shrubs, no floating plants. Report and important Invasive species to your state/provincial authorities ( us for a web site).

17 Returning Data Limit your paperwork use the MMP forms in the field, not field books Don t forget who you are: provide route and volunteer identifiers on all forms Photocopy or scan prior to returning so that you have a copy at home. Send the originals to us by July 31 st.

18 Online Resources Need help when BSC staff are not available? Try online options Maps of available routes All training and protocol resources All forms Online data entry Websites Main Great Lakes MMP website: Secure volunteer resource website: (you will need to create a login and be approved). Interactive Route Map: (click on any dot for more details and for a link to the station locations).

19 Thank you for your continued support of the Great Lakes Marsh Monitoring Program If you have any questions or concerns contact Kathy Jones Great Lakes MMP Volunteer Coordinator ext 124 (toll free for most volunteers in Canada and in the