What are those flags for? These survey flags have dotted our woods off of Northside Road for over a decade. They mark a grid that divides the woods into quadrats for a couple of research projects. Each has letters and numbers that correspond to a location on a map. Quadrats are squares that can be chosen at random to conduct surveys of plant or animal distribution.
The flags were first laid out for a study Dr. Stevens Heckscher started on songbird diversity relative to forest cover type. He reasoned that the more-diverse portion of woods might support a greater diversity of bird species relative to the solid stand of beech further down the hill. The data has tended to support this, and this information helps us make management decisions.
Other researchers have also used the grid marked in the woods for research projects. Dr. Allison Mostrom returns each year to survey the individual neotropical migrant birds that inhabit these woods in the late spring and summer (called recruitment and return, since these birds migrate from Central and South America). Dr. Kathy Hornberger has used these woods to study the impact of human-induced changes, including elevated deer densities, on vegetation and wildlife.
Natural Lands Trust preserves are ideal places to conduct research, since they are permanently protected and will always be there for long-term studies. And we are not managing them for the intensive uses of parks, so our management is less likely to impact most research.
Please contact us if you would like more information about a specific project or to propose to conduct research on the preserve.
