Non-Invasive Genetic Mark-Recapture as a Means to Study Population Sizes and Marking Behaviour of the Elusive Eurasian Otter (Lutra lutra).

ABSTRACT: Quantifying population status is a key objective in many ecological studies, but is often difficult to achieve for cryptic or elusive species. Here, non-invasive genetic capture-mark-recapture (CMR) methods have become a very important tool to estimate population parameters, such as population size and sex ratio. The Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra) is such an elusive species of management concern and is increasingly studied using faecal-based genetic sampling. For unbiased sex ratios or population size estimates, the marking behaviour of otters has to be taken into account. Using 2132 otter faeces of a wild otter population in Upper Lusatia (Saxony, Germany) collected over six years (2006-2012), we studied the marking behaviour and applied closed population CMR models accounting for genetic m

SUBMITTER: Lampa S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4431875 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature