SLU Researchers track urban wildlife at Forest Park with geospatial tech

ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - The Forest Park Living Lab is a partnership of wildlife biologists and veterinarians fascinated with the species that call the park home.

But is also an effort to "understand the trophic ecology of an urban community in one of America's most iconic, most beautiful parks," explains Stephen Blake, Assistant Professor of Biology at St. Louis University.

Blake is using geospatial technology to track wildlife.

A range of species including box turtles, ducks, geese, racoons, and red-tailed hawks wear satellite tags. Blake pulls out his smart phone and accesses and app to follow the movements of a red tail around her nest. Multiple lines charted on the map show she doesn't venture too far, before returning.

"Back to the nest, back to the nest, so she's on the Washington University campus right there, maybe it's for the bunnies, that's what she's been doing for the last couple of weeks." said Blake.

Researcher are discovering that many of the species travel well outside the park. Geese for instance will go where they find any water and grass.

"A couple of our tag raccoons love legging it over to Dogtown through the culverts on I 64. They hang out in the dumpsters over there and feed up and have a snooze and then waddle back to Forest Park." said Blake.

The hawks and owls have wider orbit, sometimes traveling miles away. He notes when it comes to the coyotes they track, one has set up a den in one of the most affluent areas of St. Louis, while another hunts between the blacktops of the city and Forest Park.

Eventually Blake hopes researchers and students in the St. Louis area can have a better understanding of the relationship between predator and prey in these urban settings, and how the balance of wildlife is different in urban areas.

Blake says for all of the wildlife tracking around the world, there's very little in urban environments and very little that involves multiple species at once.

He hopes to tag fish and aquatic turtles at some point in the future.

@2024 Audacy (KMOX). All rights reserved.