They are hoping to use what they learn over several years to study something called trophic cascades, or how a change in the ecosystem can impact a variety of species.
The pictures help us understand changes in time and space in our animal community, and what animals are where when, and how that shifts over long term,” said Dr. Caitlin Barale Potter, the education and outreach coordinator at Cedar Creek.
There are more than 5,000 people with accounts on the site that have worked to classify images more than three million times. Each image is reviewed several times.
Potter says that there are classrooms using this as part of their education, as well as people from Germany, Australia, and the Netherlands who are regulars on the site. She sees people volunteer their time for a variety of reasons.
“It just an interest in the world, and in a part of the world that they aren’t familiar with,” said Potter.
The majority of the pictures catch only grass, but it’s relatively common to see the resident bison herd, of find a couple of deer. And, there are a number of less common animals you can find too.
“Fisher are really special. We know there are a lot of fisher around our part of Minnesota, but we very rarely, if ever see them with our own eyes,” said Potter. “And to have them show up on our cameras all the time all over the reserve is amazing.”
From time to time the cameras even catch some wolves, marking some of the most southern wolf sightings in the state. Watching how these wolves impact other animal and plant populations over the years to come is what trophic cascades are all about.
