Conservation Scats is a citizen science project started by graduate students at the University of California, Santa Cruz, to collect carnivore scat for research. Collecting animal scats is a non-invasive method to gather lots of information about animal diets, habitat use, and interactions with other species.

The Conservation Scats Project was led by Justine Smith, Ph.D. candidate. Justine is studying how the influence of humans changes animal diets by making them more nocturnal and/or reducing their density. Volunteers work with the project team to collect scats from coyotes, bobcats, and foxes in order to better understand how these animals eat and how they compete with each other. This research will inform how to best protect these animals, not only based on where they are, but on what they do as well.

The first step of the protocol was to clear all study trails of existing scat. This step is very important, because the scats for DNA analysis must be fresh within a week. The second step was to return one week later to collect fresh scats and deliver them to Justine at Skyline Ridge. DNA analysis will then be performed on the scats.

This iNaturalist.org project documents the scat found and photographed at Rancho San Antonio Open Space Preserve only. There were several other sites included in this project, but this was the only one with photographs tied to samples and DNA results.

Results of the study were published in Oikos - Synthesizing Ecology in January 2018:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/oik.04592

See the website for more information.

Justine A. Smith, Ph.D. candidate
1156 High St.
Dept. of Environmental Studies
Santa Cruz, CA 96054
jsmith5@ucsc.edu
www.conservationscats.com less ↑