Optimal Foraging

Goals

The pilot study accomplishes two important things:

1. It introduces you to your study system. Your observations and experiences from the pilot will help you develop your model and plan your experiments.

2. It helps you get a dataset early in the course. These data will be included in your paper, and you’ll also use them when learning about statistics and graphing.

This project requires each student to observe squirrels, birds, or other wildlife at feeding stations that they will place either outdoors, either on campus or in their own backyard. The pilot will require each student to individually conduct preliminary observations at a single feeding station (Phase I), and then conduct behavioral scans to quantify behavior at feeding stations (Phase II).

A COVID-19 practical note

We have opened campus for residential life, and I sincerely hope we make through the entire semester in person. However, the reality is that the COVID situation could worsen and we could be sent home at any time. Rest assured that I’ve intentionally chosen this project because it is doable from just about anywhere. If we need to transition into remote learning you'll definitely be able to complete this project from home. I am confident that this framework is flexible enough for you to be successful no matter what happens this semester.