For this assignment, I read a scientific journal article about North American river otter (Lontra canadensis) observations around the Bay Area. The questions being investigated were “Are river otters returning to the Bay Area?” and “What factors are affecting the river otter population?” To gather information, the scientists used three methods– they launched a citizen-science investigation called “Otter Spotter”, field investigations, and focal study sites with cameras. As a result of these procedures, there were 646 citizen reports submitted between 2012-2013, and 2,050 videos recorded from the focal study sites. From this data, the scientists concluded that river otters were, in fact, growing in frequency around the Bay Area, and that the
