RMS 095 WFB 185 Human and Wildlife Track Analysis

Jericho Field Lab Project Assignment Instructions

Assignment’s Purpose:To associate the datarecorded and analyzed in the motion lab with details observed within tracks of an animal and person. Using pressure-release field tracking, the motion studies conducted in the lab are reproduced in the field and reconciled with the forces of soil mechanics displayed within the tracks.Additionally, corresponding animal movements are compared to those of the motion studies, particularly in relation to the economies of energy.

Part 1 – Human Tracks: The lab journal, previously created during the instrumented lab session, guides the student’s track analysis in the field andshould include the following sections and address the following content:

  1. Introduction
  2. Restate the experimental question(s) and the significance of, or reasons for, needing to answer the question(s); e.g. the role of the environment in human and animal motion and its influence upon adaptive and compensating strategies.
  3. Restate(summarily) what results you predicted in your field data, based on the information observed in the lab and recorded in the lab journal.
  4. Methods
  5. Studentsidentifyeach of the trials performed for the instrumented lab assignment when they are repeated in the field, i.e. in ‘zero-soil’.
  6. Students record data from the tracks, e.g. force vector analyses.
  7. Results
  8. Comparequantitative values of recorded measures in the lab to the force vector analyses in the fieldfor each task using text, table, or chart format (whichever is more clear and concise for the reader). Do not interpret meaning of findings; just objectively present the results.
  9. Describe any qualitative observations made when visually observing the behavior. Do not interpret observations; just describe what was seen.
  10. Describe any track anomalies and discuss in relation to individually distinguishing indicators of physical characteristics or adaptations of motion and gait to environmental conditions.
  11. Discussion
  12. Describe briefly the main consolidated findings from the field tracking of human motion.
  13. Proposehow these findings might influence the relevance of this information to theanimal kingdom and wildlife science.
  14. Propose what you predict to see in animal tracks performing similar tasks.

Part 2 – Wildlife Tracks:The lab journal and results from Part 1 above guide the student’s track analysis in the field. The lab journal should include the following sections and address the following content regarding the field tracking:

  1. Introduction
  2. Students will be introduced to animal tracks located and identified by the instructor
  3. Methods
  4. Studentsidentify the task performed by the animal.
  5. Students record data from the tracks, e.g. force vector analyses.
  6. Describe the measures you derived and how they were recorded.
  7. Results
  8. Describe any qualitative observations made when visually observing the behavior. Do not interpret observations; just describe what was seen.
  9. Describe any (potential) track anomalies and discuss in relation to individually distinguishing indicators of physical characteristics or adaptations of motion and gait to environmental conditions.
  10. Compareusing text, table, or chart format (whichever is more clear and concise for the reader), quantitative values of recorded measures in the lab to those in the field. Do not interpret meaning of findings; just objectively present the results.
  11. Discussion
  12. Describebriefly main consolidated findings from the field tracking of animal motion.
  13. Proposehow these findings might influence the relevance of this information to the animal kingdom and wildlife science.

Submission: The report should be submitted prior to the due date identified on the course syllabus. Submit the report as a Word document or Adobe PDF document as an attached file using the Blackboard link for this assignment.

Assessment: The journal will be assessed for (a) on-time completion, (b) completeness to include all of content identified above, (c) clear structure and presentation, and (d) use of complete sentences that are free from errors in grammar, spelling, or punctuation.