How long is enough to detect terrestrial animals? Estimating the minimum trapping effort on camera traps.

ABSTRACT: Camera traps is an important wildlife inventory tool for estimating species diversity at a site. Knowing what minimum trapping effort is needed to detect target species is also important to designing efficient studies, considering both the number of camera locations, and survey length. Here, we take advantage of a two-year camera trapping dataset from a small (24-ha) study plot in Gutianshan National Nature Reserve, eastern China to estimate the minimum trapping effort actually needed to sample the wildlife community. We also evaluated the relative value of adding new camera sites or running cameras for a longer period at one site. The full dataset includes 1727 independent photographs captured during 13,824 camera days, documenting 10 resident terrestrial species of birds and mammals. Our

SUBMITTER: Si X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4017883 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature