Student Scholars & Faculty Mentors
Projects funded by our internal grants program. Search the table to find students or faculty mentors that share in your interests, and could help you achieve your goals in research, creative activity, or service.
Small Carnivore Survey Project for Hawk Mountain Sanctuary
Name: Hauf,
Advisor: Haines, Aaron
Department: BIOL
Award: Biology Student Investigator
Abstract: We are currently in the 6th mass extinction event and are in need of strategies to identify biodiversity responses to ecosystem changes to maintain and restore ecosystems. Recent analysis suggests that small carnivores serve as ecological sentients. Unfortunately, at a global scale small carnivores are of conservation concern. This project focuses on detecting and monitoring weasel species and addresses the need to investigate the conservation of small carnivores. To do this, various camera setups will be used to detect carnivore presence along the Kittatinny Ridge of Pennsylvania. The cameras will be checked every 2 weeks and locations will be switched every 60 days. Millersville students will also extract skulls from owl pellets received from the Pennsylvania Game Commission to identify weasel skulls. At the end of the study, the total number of weasel detections from the camera setups and owl pellets will be determined and the most efficient modified camera setup will be identified.