April+14th

=April 14th: Setting and Checking Traps =



===Today was the first full day out in the field. We started the day by heading out to our first research site which was in the woods about 2 miles from where we live. Dr. Christine Buesching, one of our lead scientists, taught us all how to properly set the traps and fill them with bedding so that the mouse or vole doesn't freeze to death overnight while it's stuck in the trap. We also filled the traps with seed and grain.===

===Dr. Buesching then showed us the proper way to place the trap, which is along a rocky ridge or fallen log. "Think like a mouse!" she said. Mice never run out into the open, instead they prefer to run along the borders of natural obstacles. Think about mice you've seen in your own home--do they run along the wall or out in the middle of the carpet? She also showed us how to elevate the back of the trap so that any water that enters will run out instead of saturating the bedding.===

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===After all the "learning," we all divided into 5 pairs and entered the woods about 20 yards apart. We set 2 traps the say the scientist showed us and then all shouted "A Team ready!" or "B team ready!" As soon as all five teams were ready, each group marched forward 20 paces and set another two traps. We continued this way until each group set their 20 traps and then we drove back to the house for lunch. A few hours later we came back and checked the traps but we hadn't caught anything yet. Mice are nocturnal anyways, so the chances will improve when we check tomorrow morning. For the rest of this week we will be heading out to the research site twice a day to check the traps for mice and voles. What happens if we catch one? Find out tomorrow!===



__Literacy questions__ 1) About how far away is the research site from the house? 2) What did we use to attract the mice into the traps? 3) If the bedding gets "saturated", what does that mean? 4) Why is it important to set traps along natural obstacles? 5) What do you think Dr. Beusching meant when she said to "Think like a mouse!" 6) When do you think the chances are highest to find a mouse in the trap? In the morning check or the early evening check? Why? __Math questions__ 1) Each trap is expensive! They cost 80 dollars each. How much are all the traps worth together? 2) The trapping grid is 100 meters by 100 meters (a hectare). What is the total area of the trapping area? 3) There were 2 "false catches" out of the 100 traps set. A false catch is when the trap door closes accidentally with no mouse inside. What is the fraction of traps that recorded "false catches?" Is that fraction reduced? Do you know the percentage of "false catches?" __Science questions__ 1) What does "nocturnal" mean? 2) If the bedding gets "saturated", why would that be bad for the mouse? 3) Mice need to constantly eat turn keep their body temperature at a certain level. How does that work?


** "Was today a fun day setting traps for mice or was it kinda tiring and boring?" (Corinne)

//Hey Corinne! Wow, you're fast! This page was only up for about 1 hour before you posted your question. You win a prize! I'll bring you back something cool I find on my trip.// //Today was a lot of fun. The weather was pretty nice all day and not very windy. I liked hiking through the woods and setting traps (which don't hurt the mice) but it was a little disappointing to get two false catches instead of finding mice. Our group had a fun bet over which group would get the first catch and I thought we won for a moment. It's definately tiring, but not boring. (Mr. Wignall)//**

"Why did you want to go on this trip and what do you think of when you want to go home?" (Joey P.) //I wanted to go on this trip to show students that science and education is something that you do your entire life and not just in school. Learning is fun and can be a great adventure and I'm excited I get to share this experience with all of you! (Mr. Wignall)//

"Can you show us a picture of where you are staying?" (Nick O.)

//Sure! I'll take some pics tomorrow! It's a pretty old house but every night Mr. Pembroke (from California) and Mr. Long Voelkner (Bemidji) play the guitar and harmonica each night as we work on our websites. (Mr. Wignall)//

"Out of all the animals there what is the one you want to see the most and why?" (Joey P.)

//I'd like to see a moose the most, just because it's so huge and rare in Nova Scotia nowadays. Years ago when the white-tailed deer came into the area they brought a brain worm with them. The deer aren't harmed but the worm goes out with the deer droppings, gets eaten by snails, and then accidentally eaten by the moose as it eats plants. The moose doesn't have any natural protection against the brain worm and ends up dying from holes in it's brain. That's why they're so rare and I'd love to see one on this trip. (Mr. Wignall)//

"Other than mice are there any other animals you will be trapping?" (Jesse N.)

//Well, we accidentally trapped a chipmunk today, and we still try to trap voles, but we are only interested in trapping those two animals--the mouse and the vole, although there are many different species of each. We use camera traps to take pictures of larger animals and then go looking for evidence of animals like coyotes, foxes, fishers, bears, deer, etc. We're interested in all those animals, but we're only trapping mice and voles.

"What kinds of things are you going to study about mice?" (Leah)

We are going to study the effect of climate change on their population. We think it affects their numbers, but we need data to prove the lead scientists' hypothesis. (Mr. Wignall)

"If you do sucessfully catch a mouse, are you going to set it back up to catch another mouse?" (Casey)

Yup! We take out the mice or vole, get our data, then release the animal back where we caught it and replace the trap. (Mr. Wignall)

"Will you disect a mouse?" (Josh)

No. We will only do live captures. We don't want to hurt any mice if possible. (Mr. Wignall)

"Can you put up a video on here without using youtube?" (Evan)

I can, but wikispaces limits the video size to 20 MB, and that's only about 20 seconds or so. Most of my really interesting videos are longer than that so I've been using Youtube to host them. (Mr. Wignall)

"Are you planning on going swimming in the ocean?" (Kevin K.)

I don't think so. This far north the ocean stays very, very cold all year, even in summer. I wouldn't object if we all went down to jump in just to say we did, but I wouldn't go by myself. (Mr. Wignall)

"Are you planning on bringing back any animals?" (Cody S.)

No. We are forbidden to bring back any animals. Part of me really wanted to keep the smooth green snake I found, but I know that we need to keep wild animals in the research site and not remove them. (Mr. Wignall)

"What's your bed like?" (Matt)

As I told you in our video chat the other day, I accidentally broke my bed Wednesday night and am now sleeping in another room. Right now my bed is pretty small and the mattress is thin, but at the end of the day I'm so tired that I fall asleep right away anyways. (Mr. Wignall)

"Are you doing any studies that deal with the first animals on the Earth?" (Mia)

Not me, but I know that's a subject that's being studied in great detail by other scientists around the world. Thanks for the question, Mia! (Mr. Wignall)

"Have you chased any deer lately?" (Matt)

Haha! We actually haven't seen any deer yet which surprises the scientists. They believe that this area should have a larger number of deer than our data shows, but so far we've only counted one deer poop in our quadrate searches. (Mr. Wignall)

"What colors of mice will you catch?" (Ben b.)

So far all of the mice have been deer mice, which means their backs are light brown and their bellies and feet are white. They look very cute! You should check out the pictures. (Mr. Wignall)

"Did you meet up with any friends over there and what are their names?" (Kevin K.)

I've made lots of new friends over here and we all plan on staying in touch and sharing teaching ideas after we're done the trip, but I didn't "meet up" with any previous friends here in Nova Scotia. (Mr. Wignall)

"How's the food up there? Is it better than school lunch?" (Matt)

The food is pretty good, but nothing beats our school lunches when we're having burritos or chicken patties. Mostly we eat a lot of sandwiches for lunch and pasta, rice, or fish sticks for dinner. After a hard day's work, even a plate of french fries looks like the best feast in your life! (Mr. Wignall)

"Do sea otters live in the North Atlantic ocean or not?" (Sam)

They do, but not in this area unfortunately. (Mr. Wignall)

"How long was your flight?" (Seth)

I knew you would ask me a question about the flight or about the airport, Seth! I took 3 separate flights to get here. The first was 45 minutes, the second was 1 hour and 15 minutes, and the last leg of the journey was about 1 hour and 45 minutes. (Mr. Wignall)

"Did you find out if the deer in the presentation is really a deer or an elk?" (Avery Chap.)

It's a white-tailed deer (a buck, not a doe). (Mr. Wignall)

"Will you put the movie of you chasing a deer back up?" (Logan)

Sure! Why not? (Mr. Wignall)

"How long did you hike take?" (Mick)

I've been on several hikes, but the longest were 4 hours and 3 1/2 hours. I got sunburned pretty badly on the most recent hike though. (Mr. Wignall)

"See any wolves?" (Dylan)

Great question! Actually there are no wolves in this part of Nova Scotia. The problem is that it's a long journey from the natural habitat of the wolf to Nova Scotia and the wolves that do come out this way are shot by hunters long before they get here. We have coyotes, however, and although we haven't seen any, we've seen tons of droppings so we know there are a lot around. (Mr. Wignall)

"What would be the purpose instead of catching mice to go down there?" (Donovan)

I wanted to come here to have an adventure and learn more about the environment. I also think it's really important to show students that learning isn't some boring thing you have to do in school-it's something you do for your entire life. Science isn't limited to the science classroom, it's all around us and the more you know about the world, the more amazing it seems. (Mr. Wignall)

"Will you put up the whole presentation that you did before you left?" (Dylan)

Sure! Thanks for reminding me, Dylan! (Mr. Wignall)

"What type of mice are you going to catch? Did you name any?" (Mia)

We are probably going to catch white-footed deer mice although there is a small chance of catching a jumping mouse. We caught two mice so far and haven't named any yet, but if you think of some good names for us to use, maybe we will! (Mr. Wignall)

"If you do catch any mice do you plan on bringing them back to your snakes?" (Mike)

Nice question, Mike. I can always count on you to ask funny, interesting questions. I won't be bringing any mice back with me since we can't remove any animals from the research site. (Mr. Wignall)//