Indiana Dunes National Park is a project within the AMMonitor community, which features projects that monitor wildlife and ecosystems with remotely deployed monitoring devices. Devices that capture media typically include trail cameras (photos, video) and/or autonomous recording units (audio). As with all AMMonitor projects, Indiana Dunes National Park utilizes an AMMonitor SQLite database to track wildlife monitoring data in a standardized format, permitting cross-project collaboration. The monitoring data are released to the public in “volumes”. Releases include the raw media files and their metadata, including the date, time, and location of media capture. Additional attachments at the volume level include human- and machine-labeled [...]
Summary
Indiana Dunes National Park is a project within the AMMonitor community, which features projects that monitor wildlife and ecosystems with remotely deployed monitoring devices. Devices that capture media typically include trail cameras (photos, video) and/or autonomous recording units (audio). As with all AMMonitor projects, Indiana Dunes National Park utilizes an AMMonitor SQLite database to track wildlife monitoring data in a standardized format, permitting cross-project collaboration. The monitoring data are released to the public in “volumes”. Releases include the raw media files and their metadata, including the date, time, and location of media capture. Additional attachments at the volume level include human- and machine-labeled tags that describe taxa or other environmental characteristics within the media. For more information on the AMMonitor R package, see https://code.usgs.gov/vtcfwru/ammonitor.
Biological diversity was a primary reason for the creation of Indiana Dunes National Park. Situated on the shores of Lake Michigan, the national park is located in several ecological transition zones, the diversity is many times greater than most areas its size. In fact, Indiana Dunes National Park is fourth in biological diversity among the national parks despite having only 15,000 acres. The moderating effect of Lake Michigan, along with the great variety of habitats within a small area, explain much of the plant and animal diversity. 46 species of mammals, 18 species of amphibians, 23 species of reptiles, 71 species of fish, 60 species of butterflies, and 60 species of dragonflies and damselflies can be found here. The largest herbivore is the white-tailed deer while the largest predator is the coyote. Over 350 species of birds have been identified, with 113 of these being regular nesters.
