Motion-Activated Cameras Capture Biodiversity

Motion-activated cameras at Stanford University's Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve allow researchers to observe animals like never before. The solar-powered cameras automatically record video or photographs when a creature is in the vicinity and night vision means the scientists never miss a moment. Videos and photos are instantaneously uploaded, thanks to a new wireless network infrastructure that covers almost the entire preserve – 1,200 acres in the Santa Cruz Mountains. New footage of skunks, possums, raccoons, mountain lions, deer, jackrabbits, hummingbirds, bobcats, and many others sheds light on the biodiversity in the preserve.

Transcript

00:00:01 [Music] Stanford University this is one of the eight highresolution digital video cameras that we have deployed here at Jasper Ridge the cameras have been positioned along roads in areas where there's a lot of animal activity this here is a infrared motion sensor which reacts to the body heat of animals that pass by

00:00:26 and that's what triggers the camera to start filming in 2009 Jasper received a National Science Foundation Grant to build a wireless network infrastructure throughout the preserve and so these video cameras are an outgrowth of that project it's connected to our outdoor wireless network through an antenna that's up on the hill and it's also powered by a solar panel up there as

00:00:49 well six of them are dedicated to a project that's recording hummingbird visits to a special kind of plant that we have at Jasper Ridge here you can sit there and observe but it just takes too long so by having this motion detecting cameras we can do much more than we would otherwise there are ton of really interesting scientific questions that can be answered using

00:01:12 camera traps and Jasper Bridge is a great place to do it on a nightly basis we see Bobcats deer coyotes raccoons possums skunks jack rabbits and brush rabbits mountain lions gray foxes occasionally even owls camera traps have been used for everything from what mammals are here to behaviors what behaviors are animals exhibiting as they move through their landscape we've seen

00:01:37 Bobcats playing with one another we've seen a bobcat playing with food look like a wood rat most of what the camera traps capture up at Jas Bridge are simply animals walking from one place to another which is probably mostly what animals are spending their time doing the cameras will capture animals walking with their young so we'll see a lot of pictures of deer walking with fawns most

00:01:57 people think deer don't have a lot going on in their heads but one thing I've noticed from the videos is that deer are quite curious especially the young ones will often investigate anything new in their environment which includes the cameras camera traps and the advancement in technology has been really fantastic in the sense that now we can leave cameras out and with very little effort

00:02:17 they can record anything that walks by the video cameras are actually giving us a kind of view of a world that is close by but that we just don't see for more please visit us at stanford.edu