Empirical evaluation of the spatial scale and detection process of camera trap surveys.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Camera traps present a valuable tool for monitoring animals but detect species imperfectly. Occupancy models are frequently used to address this, but it is unclear what spatial scale the data represent. Although individual cameras monitor animal activity within a small target window in front of the device, many practitioners use these data to infer animal presence over larger, vaguely-defined areas. Animal movement is generally presumed to link these scales, but fine-scale heterogeneity in animal space use could disrupt this relationship.

Methods

We deployed cameras at 10 m intervals across a 0.6 ha forest plot to create an unprecedentedly dense sensor array that allows us to compare animal detections at these two scales. Using time-stamped camera detections we re

SUBMITTER: Kays R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8364038 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature