This project contains observations of Pacific Newts who have died on Alma Bridge Rd. due to vehicle collision. Each observation shows the decomposition of a newt from week to week. This will give us a sense of how fast the bodies decompose so that we don't add duplicate entries to the main project.

Factors that affect how fast an animal such as the newt decomposes are as follows:

• moisture: the amount of water in the environment (rain and fog condensation)
• temperature: organic matter breaks down faster in warm weather
• integrity: how many times was the newt run over? In areas with a lot of traffic, the carcasses decompose faster.

How to add observations to this Decomp Study project:

1. When you identify two or more pictures of the same newt carcass over time, the original (oldest) observation should be added to both the current project and the Decomp Study project.

2. Don't add duplicates to the current project. Instead, add the duplicate picture to the observation of the original and annotate it accordingly. For example,
   Picture #1, 2019-03-01
   Picture #2, 2019-03-08 (week 2)

3. Repeat step 2 for any additional duplicates until the carcass is no longer seen on the road.

The main project can be found here:
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/pacific-newts-all-lexington-reservoir-area less ↑