using ATV's in research

[bendee31]

Hi everybody.

Over the past few years I have noticed a lot of people using ATV's in field research. It occurred to me that this may be a less than preferred technique when dealing with smaller inventory and monitoring locations. The reason's I say this is that if you walk between drift fences and data points you create a series of transects that can provide additional data and opportunity to encounter organisms providing a more thorough approach to the study. IF you drive an ATV between points you create noise pollution that may negatively influence your encounter frequency AND ATV's can incidentally tear up much habitat.

I realize that in larger parcels ATV's might be necessary, but it is my opinion that they should be used when necessary, but not simply for convenience. I have observed use of these quite a bit in recent year on a convenience basis. When I consider inventory work I participated in at five National Parks, Two military installations, and three state wildlife management areas it becomes apparent to me that many species could be
missed if one was driving between points. A large portion of our encounter data was derived by transects connecting inventory points.
I hope this stimulates some discussion on the topic in order to
evaluate when it is and is not appropriate to use ATV's. Furthermore, when they are used should there be a standardized distance or approach to preventing ATV noise from disrupting the collection site and for minimizing potential impacts from their use in the general area.

Whoa, the argumentative emails are flooding already! Just kidding!
Look forward to the pro's and cons~!