Data Nerdfest with Dr. Charles van Rees (Part 1)

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla speaks with Dr. Charles Van Rees about data. They discuss the ins and outs of working with data and how to turn data into information scientists can use.

Episode suggestion:  Take the time to see, smell, and notice things outside!

Call to action: Check out ebird, inaturalist or seek!

What is/are data?

Information that we can use for inference and for learning things

Data doesn’t necessarily “teach you things” but it helps you learn an answer to something you’re looking for

Examples of data for conservation science

Occurrence data: evidence of the occurrence of a species in a specific area

Abundance data: identifying and counting every individual of every species in a given sector

Time series data: a series of data points indexed in time order

Monitoring: the process of watching the changes and patterns in the species

Challenges in data collection

Biases in both humans vs dogs

Dogs have less of a visual bias than humans as they rely on olfactory vs sight to find data

Important to consider if the questions you are asking from the data are going to be worth it to have dogs involved.

Sample size: you have to have enough data in order to be able to work with the data

Trying to collect data in a cost effective way

You can’t control the data you collect

What happens to the life-cycle of data?

Analysis

Publishing

FAIR principles

Meta-analyses and reviews

Policy!

Or if not, advocacy! Action! Management!

What are ways to collect data?

Conservation detection dogs

Radio collars

Camera traps

eDNA

Drones

Audio surveys

Netting

Links Mentioned in the Episode:

- Mirror test (Kayla got this slightly wrong - dolphins spent extra time head circling, which may indicate recognition)

- Dogs self-recognition with scent

- Wolverine Way

Whatever thing you were talking about at 22 minutes, gulo?

Where to find Charles: Website | Twitter | Instagram | Nature Guys

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