UCSC Forest Ecology Research Plot ForestGEO Project Camera Trap Data

This metadata publication presents a camera trap dataset collected for the UCSC Forest Ecology Research Plot ForestGEO Project. The Forest Ecology Research Plot (FERP) camera trapping study follows protocols established by the Smithsonian Tropical Reseach Institute/Center for Tropical Forest Science (Jansen et al. 2014), allowing for comparison with other ForestGEO mapped plots. The UCSC-FERP is a 16-ha mapped forest plot in Mediterranean-climate, mixed-evergreen coastal forest in the Santa Cruz mountains, along the Central Coast of California, USA. Over the course of the project, 18 cameras were used in 49 deployments, resulting in 30,080 total images (4,064 identified wildlife images). The dataset encompasses 16 identified species, with the most frequently recorded being Mule Deer (Odocoileus hemionus) with 2,380 images, various rodent species with 390 images, Brush Rabbit (Sylvilagus bachmani) with 310 images, Western Gray Squirrel (Sciurus griseus) with 271 images, Eastern Gray Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) with 230 images, and other species collectively accounting for 483 images. Paired cameras and bait were not used in this project. Project data and metadata are available for download through the Wildlife Insights data publication page here: http://n2t.net/ark:/63614/w12003849 For questions and other inquiries, please reach out to the project owner on the Wildlife Insights project page: http://n2t.net/ark:/63614/w12003849