In mid-October, students hit the fields to conduct field work for their classes, clubs and organizations.
Students from conservation biologist Dennis Ferraro’s 400-level Natural Resources course hit Pioneer’s Park to trap and mark turtles on Oct. 5. Students recorded weight, size and sex for about the dozen painted turtles they caught in nets.
A few of those same students later headed out to the Sandhills where they took measurements and recorded data on snakes and other reptiles found. The students were able to touch the scales of a confined rattlesnake, under Ferraro’s close supervision. Do not try this at home.
Students in the Subunit of the American Fisheries Society had our first fall activity Oct. 8 to 9 in Columbus, Nebraska. A landowner there asked professors Jamilynn Poletto and Mark Pegg and students to assess the fish population in a residential pond. Students electrofished it from an electrofishing boat, collected the fish, identified species and recorded weights and lengths of each fish. Species caught included bluegill, largemouth bass and black crappie. The students will work up the data they collected and provide an overview of the fish populations in the pond, as well as a fisheries management plan.
View the photos on the SNR Facebook page.
More details at: http://snr.unl.edu