photo by: Courtesy of KU News Service

Environmental studies students set up motion-activated cameras at the KU Field Station, as part of Snapshot USA, the first-ever nationwide mammal survey.

University of Kansas undergraduates have taken part in the first-ever nationwide mammal survey, with results published in the journal Ecology.

Called Snapshot USA, the survey comprises scientists from the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, in collaboration with more than 150 scientists from across the nation. The scientists collected data from 1,509 motion-activated cameras from 110 sites across all 50 states, including at the KU Field Station north of Lawrence, according to a news release from the KU News Service.

White-tailed deer were the most common animals captured in photos taken at the KU Field Station. Raccoons, coyotes, opossums, squirrels, rabbits and wild turkeys were also represented, according to the release.

In 2019, 24 undergraduate students from KU’s environmental studies program assisted with research at the KU Field Station for Snapshot USA. The students helped set up wildlife cameras, then identified and counted animals recorded in the images.

photo by: Courtesy of KU News Service

A doe and a nursing fawn were captured by a motion-activated camera at the KU Field Station as part of Snapshot USA, the first-ever nationwide mammal survey.

In 2020, an additional 28 undergraduate students used national data from the 2019 project to investigate questions about wildlife ecology. Their research topics ranged from the activity patterns of grizzly bears in Alaska to a comparison of mammal diversity between the KU Field Station and areas around Pittsburg. A bobcat made an appearance in the 2020 survey.

No armadillos were recorded by the Snapshot cameras at the KU Field Station, though they were frequently photographed at the Pittsburg site, 115 miles south, according to the news release.

“Students in the Field Ecology course will continue to work on this nationwide survey as it continues in future years,” said Robert Hagen in the release. Hagen is the field education coordinator and a lecturer in the environmental studies program. “Among other questions, we will be looking to see whether armadillo populations spread northward to the KU Field Station — and how quickly.”

The journal Ecology is a publication of the Ecological Society of America.