We’ve assembled our first trail camera trap demo video for the interactive basin project: TPOTS Demo 2024 October.
What’s the story behind these videos? Read on below and find out.
TPOTS Demo: What’s Going On Here?
Starting in early June, 2024, we placed a camera trap (code number UPRNEW0001) on video mode in a location along the escarpment, near the border of the Upper New and Upper Yadkin basins in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
We checked the camera a few times, and on our final visit on October 16, 2024, as luck would have it, the batteries had expired just the day before.
Throughout June and October, our camera captured 174 clips of species activity in this location. There were (surprisingly) few clips of wind blowing leaves or branches with no other activity, which means we picked a pretty good spot for the camera.
What is The Pulse Of The Species (TPOTS)?
The TPOTS Project involves geocaching within the Upper New River basin and neighbors along specific routes, paired with trail cameras to capture wildlife activity and solicited (prompted and instructed) human monologue narratives in wild and developed spaces.
Using provided maps or guidebooks, participants explore the history and ecology of the bioregion, including places that would currently be underwater, with options to create personal maps and narratives of their explorations.
Read more about The Interactive Basin Project and The Pulse of The Species on this page of our website.
A couple more examples…
In this a demonstration of The Pulse Of The Species (TPOTS) project we see several days footage tracking a vernal pond full of wood frog eggs. Founder Benjamin Erlandson explains his process in an Instagram Reel, and then resulting timelapse footage is provided.
We have more than five days of timelapse footage, and we’re still curating. We intend to capture additional seasons of vernal pool footage as opportunities arrive.
Another example is a simple timelapse that doesn’t necessarily intend to capture specific species activities.
Part of the purpose of IBP and TPOTS is to showcase extended time horizons of beauty and seasonal dynamics within any watershed basin anywhere in the biosphere.
